Magic Through the Gate
by Kallanit
Summary: After the war, little has changed for Muggleborns in Britain, so Hermione seeks a place where she will fit in and be welcome. She finds somewhere unexpected, where she can feel useful again. When Harry begins to feel equally displaced at home, due to problems arising from being Master of the Elder Wand, she invites him to join her. For once no Harry or Ron bashing! AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, don't own them. I'm merely playing in the sandboxes labelled _Harry Potter_ and _Stargate SG-1_ , and mixing up the sand a little bit.

 **Author's Note:** This story is unbetaed, so I apologise for any typos or other errors that I didn't pick up.

ᴳᴳGobbledygookᴳᴳ

ᴾᴾParseltongueᴾᴾ According to canon, Harry can no longer speak Parseltongue after the Horcrux in his scar is destroyed, however, in this story he is still a Parselmouth.

.o.O.o.

There was a party at the Burrow. Hermione Granger, who had returned to Hogwarts after the war to complete her schooling, had just received her NEWT results. To no one's surprise but her own, her results matched those of the late Albus Dumbledore himself, and even surpassed his in some cases. Hermione had sent off a number of job applications for various positions in the Ministry of Magic but had not yet received any responses. This was puzzling to the Muggleborn witch, as she knew that almost everyone else who had applied around the same time as she had—and some even later—had already received replies. Fortunately, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Acting Minister for Magic, would be making an appearance at the party and she fully intended to take the opportunity to grill him regarding her applications. In the meantime, the young witch was just enjoying the celebrations.

Hermione was talking to her best friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Harry was dating Ron's younger sister, Ginny, while Hermione and Ron had dated briefly after the war. Both were glad that their friendship had survived their break-up. In truth, it had been quite amicable, as they had both realised that they were not suited as life partners. Their interests were just too different. Of course, Hermione wanted to marry and have children, raise a family, but more than that she also wanted a career, one that would challenge her intellectually, where she could make a difference. Ron, on the other hand, was much more easy-going and laid-back than Hermione. His leisure interests lay more in the direction of Quidditch and a cosy drink at the pub afterwards, not in rushing out to change the world.

"We already did that when we brought down Voldemort—we don't need to do it again," Ron said to Hermione with a laugh. But she wanted more— _needed_ more.

Ron cared enough about Hermione to encourage her in her plans to have a career, but in a moment of honesty had admitted that he was not himself academically inclined and would prefer being married to a sweet girl, who would be happy to be a housewife and mother, rather than one who wanted to come home and debate politics in the evening when all he wanted to do after a long day's work was relax. Hermione, on the other hand, had grown up as the daughter of a professional, working mother and wanted something similar for herself. Ron and Hermione had realised that their outlooks on life were incompatible and had wished each other the best of luck in finding partners who would better suit them. It also helped that there had not been much passion between them; they had eventually realised that their feelings were more like that of brother and sister than lovers. Ron was now dating Megan Jones, a Hufflepuff who had been in the same year as them, having been introduced to her by their friend Neville Longbottom and his Hufflepuff girlfriend, Hannah Abbott. Megan was a cook to rival even Molly Weasley, but her real love was baking and the young witch had turned this love into what was fast becoming a profitable business. Working from home, Megan made custom, bespoke cakes for special occasions—weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and other occasions. Harry and Hermione, who knew how important food was to Ron, often teased him that they did not know which he loved more: Megan herself or her cooking and baking! Ron invariably responded with a blissful smile, much to their amusement.

As the three friends chatted, Hermione felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning round, she saw her former Head of House and Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall. "Professor!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's good to see you. Thank you for coming."

"It's my pleasure, Miss Granger," Minerva replied. "How could I miss the party celebrating the exceptional NEWT results of the brightest witch of her age?"

Hermione blushed. "Thank you," she stammered, as Ron and Harry rolled their eyes in amused exasperation.

"Stop being so modest, Hermione," said Harry with a grin.

"Yeah, you're bloody brilliant. Admit it!" agreed Ron cheerfully.

"Yes, well," said Minerva, giving the irrepressible boys a mock glare, "I wonder if you would mind coming outside with me for a minute, Miss Granger? I'd like a word, if I may?"

"Of course, Professor," said Hermione wonderingly.

Following the Headmistress out into the garden, Hermione was surprised to see both Kingsley Shacklebolt and Bill Weasley waiting for her. "What's wrong?" the young woman asked abruptly, tensing at the sight of this delegation.

Kingsley smiled ruefully. "Nothing's wrong exactly," he said.

"Not exactly?" asked Hermione pointedly.

"Come and sit down, Miss Granger, and we'll explain everything to you," said Minerva, ushering the younger witch towards a shady bench.

When Hermione was sitting down, she gazed around expectantly. "Soooo?" she asked, drawing out the word questioningly.

Kingsley sighed. "Hermione, I want to talk to you about your job applications at the Ministry."

"Is there a problem?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Hermione…" the Minister hesitated. "A few years ago, you would have been snatched up by the Ministry. There would have been several departments fighting to recruit you. I hope one day that will be the case again."

"It's not the case now, though, is it?" the young witch asked sadly, looking at him with resignation in her chocolate brown eyes.

Kingsley shook his head. "There were rather a lot of prejudicial, anti-Muggleborn laws enacted during the war and the current situation is that as a Muggleborn, you might, if you're very lucky, get a position as cleaning staff, but that would be the best you could hope for. On the other hand, Purebloods who barely scraped together a couple of OWLs, never mind any NEWTs, will be taken straight into good positions with excellent prospects. I don't want to see you in that situation, Hermione. It would be a shame to waste such potential."

"I see," Hermione said, staring at the ground. Her brown eyes filled with tears and she blinked furiously, determined not to cry. After all she had been through over the past few years, it hurt that nothing had changed since the war.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Kingsley said. "I'm still working to reverse all those laws but it's going to take time—longer than I would like," he admitted regretfully.

Hermione looked up hopefully at Minerva. "Is there a chance I could teach at Hogwarts? If I can't help bring about change through legislation, perhaps I can do it through education."

Minerva shook her head. "The Founders may not all have agreed with Salazar Slytherin's views on excluding Muggleborn students, but they did believe that only Purebloods should be allowed to teach. It's only in the last three hundred years that the Hogwarts Charter was amended to allow Half-bloods on staff. Muggleborns still aren't allowed to teach at Hogwarts, not even Muggle Studies."

"What about a Mastery? I always thought I'd like to gain a Mastery but I wanted to work for a few years first. I could go straight into it now," Hermione asked in desperation.

"Hermione," Bill said gently. "Apprentices need to apply to Masters years in advance."

At this, Hermione finally snapped. "That's another of those things that Purebloods grow up knowing and no one bothers to tell the ignorant Muggleborns, isn't it? So what exactly was the point in fighting that damned war?"

"Well, to beat Voldemort, of course," gasped Minerva.

"Why?" Hermione demanded, dashing away angry tears. "The wizarding world clearly agrees with him. It's only his methods you all disagree with. Why the hell do you bother telling us Muggleborns about magic, anyway? Why don't you just bind our magic as soon as we start doing accidental magic and be done with it? Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and work out how to catch up on my Muggle education, as I've clearly wasted the last eight years in the wizarding world!"

"Hermione, wait!" called Bill, as she got up and stormed off. "There's another option you haven't considered."

Hermione stopped but did not turn round. "It had better be good," she said angrily.

"Gringotts," the oldest Weasley son said simply.

Hermione turned round. "Are you kidding?" she asked incredulously. "I'm not even welcome on their premises without an armed escort. In case you've forgotten, Harry, Ron and I _robbed_ Gringotts during the war! There's no way they'd be willing to employ me."

"You're partially right," said Bill. "The Goblins are rather annoyed with you and they're not willing to put you on their full-time payroll, but they're also quite impressed with you and would be willing to employ you on a freelance basis. That allows them to save face, while still obtaining your services. They'd give you a fair salary and they won't waste that brilliant brain of yours by making you _maintenance staff!_ The Goblins may even be willing to find a Master to apprentice you. Do you know what subject you'd like to study?

Well, certainly nothing _magical_ ," the angry and upset woman replied scathingly. "Arithmancy or Ancient Runes can at least cross over into the Muggle world."

Minerva and Kingsley eyed each other worriedly. They did not want to lose Hermione Granger from the wizarding world but if they were not careful, that is exactly what would happen.

"Hermione, I've already discussed you with the Goblins and I've been authorised to make an offer to you. Are you interested in hearing about it?" Bill asked calmly.

"I don't know," she said agitatedly. "I'm too angry to think clearly right now. Give me a few minutes."

Hermione paced around the garden for several minutes, clearly trying to work off her frustrations and calm down. Finally, she conjured a row of archery targets and blasted each one into smithereens with a series of finely aimed Reductor Curses. The noise brought everyone else running out into the garden to see what was happening. The war was still too recent a memory for them to be sanguine about the sound of explosions outside their house.

Hermione repeated the exercise three more times before she had finally worked off all her rage. Turning around tiredly, she was startled to see everyone standing silently watching her.

"Having fun, Granger?" asked George with a smirk.

"Not really," she answered dispiritedly.

The Weasleys all frowned when they heard the lifelessness in her voice. Hermione had been in high spirits ever since she had finished school and returned to the Burrow. What had Minerva, Kingsley and Bill been saying to upset her so much?

Seeing Molly about to erupt, Minerva hastened to run interference. "Why don't you all go back into the house and let us finish talking to Hermione?" she said firmly. Having taught every single person who was present that day, barring Bill's wife, Fleur—and having been Head of House for most of them—they all did as Minerva bade them.

"Hermione," said Bill gently. "Are you ready to talk yet?"

"It doesn't matter what the Goblins offer. It's not like I have any other options, do I?" Hermione replied bitterly. "Even if I were to catch up on my Muggle education, I'd still have problems explaining where I've been for the past eight years. With that gap in my history, I'm not likely to get much of a job in the Muggle world either. This is the best option I've got. Tell the Goblins I said yes," she said, trudging wearily back inside.

"Well, that's that," said Minerva, equally wearily. "I wasn't expecting her to be quite so broken by this."

"What did you expect?" demanded Bill angrily. "She fought more than most to help this world and she's just been told she's still not equal, that she might not ever be. Hermione Granger is a treasure and it's a damn shame that the wizarding world can't see that!" he snapped, as he followed Hermione into the house. During the war, Harry, Hermione and Ron had been captured by Snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor where Hermione had been tortured by the insane and psychotic witch, Bellatrix Lestrange. They had escaped to the home of Bill and his wife, Fleur, who had looked after Hermione and helped her recover from the torture she had been subjected to. Until then, Bill had known Hermione only as Ron's friend but had not interacted much with the young witch himself. Afterwards, he had come to regard Hermione as a younger sister and he and Fleur had become very protective of Hermione. During the war Bill had been bitten by a werewolf. Fenrir Greyback had not been transformed at the time and so Bill did not become a werewolf but he still gained some werewolf traits: his family was his pack and Hermione, his honorary little sister, was part of that pack. It pained him to see Hermione put into this position when he knew she had so much to offer the wizarding world, and it infuriated him that after all that had happened, all that she had done for their world, she was still regarded as inferior. Bill had resolved to do all that he could to help the bright, young woman, just as he would do for his sister by blood, Ginny.

.o.O.o.

As time went on, Hermione enjoyed her work for Gringotts. Although still slightly bitter that she had no real choice in her employment, the intelligent young witch had to admit that the Goblins treated her very fairly—Bill had made sure of that when negotiating the initial employment contract for her—and the work was varied, interesting and challenged her intellectually. The young woman was employed in field teams, primarily as a researcher, and she was learning much. Hermione's favourite subjects in school had been Arithmancy and Charms, but working with the curse-breaking teams, she was gaining a new appreciation for Ancient Runes.

In the course of her work, Hermione frequently consulted with an elderly Muggleborn wizard who had returned to the Muggle world many years ago and had become one of the world's top academics in Ancient Languages. Solomon Schuyler, impressed by the extremely intelligent young witch, encouraged Hermione to further her education. Hermione had kept up with her Muggle education, although she had not managed to sit the actual exams, as she was in Hogwarts during the relevant exam sessions. Immediately after the conversation with Bill, Minerva and Kingsley where she had realised she had very few options in the wizarding world, Hermione had begun brushing up on her GCSE studies and sat the exams a few months later, during the winter resit session. Mere months later, the Muggleborn witch followed her GCSEs with excellent A Levels in Latin, Chemistry (Potions), Maths (Arithmancy), History and Botany¹ (Herbology)—rather more subjects than most people generally sat for A Level, but Hermione always had been an over-achiever. Having learned her lesson from what happened after she had finished Hogwarts, she now wanted to give herself as many options as possible. Kingsley pulled some strings and Hermione's records were magically altered to appear as though she had sat the exams at the correct age. Hermione then applied to read Ancient Languages at the university where Dr Schulyer taught. This was not the first time he had mentored students who had come from the wizarding world and he provided a distance learning option for them, knowing they would not all be comfortable in the non-magical environment of the university-it is, after all, hard to fit in when you are unable to explain your history. In fact, students who had attained their NEWTs in Ancient Runes were usually far in advance of normal university students who were coming to study these particular Ancient Languages for the first time, to the extent that within a year Hermione had achieved simultaneous Muggle degrees in multiple ancient runic languages—her knowledge was already there, she merely had to submit the required coursework and sit the exams. Hermione had immediately followed these up with both Muggle and Magical Masteries and had then dived straight into the start of her Doctoral studies. Arithmancy, however, remained the intelligent witch's favourite subject, and upon completion of her PhD in Ancient Languages, Hermione fully intended to pursue a magical Mastery in Arithmancy. Dr Schuyler had put the young woman in touch with a Half-blood witch who was both a Professor of Mathematics and an Arithmancy Mistress, and Dr Delta Shannon had already agreed to accept Hermione as a student on the same distance learning basis as Dr Schuyler had done. Upon Dr Shannon's recommendation, Hermione would combine studies in both Muggle Mathematics and Magical Arithmancy, as she had done with Ancient Languages and Runes.

Hermione had published several papers on Ancient Languages, which had taken the academic world by storm. Dr Schuyler had vetted them thoroughly beforehand to ensure that she did not give away anything magical; however, by using the magical point of view, Hermione was able to open up the Muggle academic world to a new perspective. This brought the young woman to the attention of one Dr Daniel Jackson, an archaeologist and linguist who, somewhat surprisingly, worked for the United States Air Force. Hermione and Daniel communicated frequently by email but did not have the opportunity to meet in person.

.o.O.o.

Hermione looked at the photographs on the table in front of her and sighed. She stretched wearily, lifting her sweat-drenched shirt away from her sticky body in her fingertips and wished for a Muggle fan, or better yet, air-conditioning. The tired witch was sitting in a tent in the middle of the Egyptian desert and cooling charms were only of limited use in the desert conditions. Hermione was working with a team of curse-breakers to explore an ancient tomb that had recently been discovered. However, the runes on this particular tomb were puzzling her. Even Solomon Schuyler had been puzzled by them.

As a last resort, Hermione had emailed Daniel Jackson for assistance. Dr Jackson had been laughed out of the academic community a few years previously, after he had published a rather bizarre theory that the purpose of the Egyptian pyramids had actually been as landing pads for alien spaceships. While Hermione did not subscribe to that theory, she did understand the need to come up with alternative theories—no matter how outlandish—for things that could not be discussed openly. The knowledge of magic was very tightly controlled and it had often been necessary for the young witch to come up with her own cover stories in the past. Although she tried to keep them as realistic sounding as she could, that was not always possible, and some of Hermione's own cover stories had been equally as outlandish in their own way. Therefore, Hermione was inclined to think there was more to Dr Jackson's theory than the general academic community was aware of, and she hoped that Dr Jackson could assist with these runes. Always assuming he answered her, of course; Dr Jackson had not replied to any emails for about a year and she was not sure where he had disappeared to during this time. Nonetheless, Hermione had emailed Dr Jackson a couple of days ago and was still hoping to hear from him.

As Hermione stretched, she heard what sounded like helicopter rotors coming towards them. Frowning, she made her way out the tent to see what was happening, since Gringotts projects were not normally approached by Muggles. As she exited the tent, Hermione saw an American military helicopter landing just outside their camp. Four people exited the helicopter, all dressed in military fatigues. As they approached the Gringotts encampment, Bill Weasley and another human curse-breaker went to meet them. Hermione observed one man lead the way, his hand outstretched in greeting. A murmured spell, and Hermione could hear what was being said.

"Hello, I'm Jonas Quinn. I'm looking for Hermione Granger?"

Hermione gaped in surprise, even as Bill responded. "We'll get her. Please wait here."

Bill nodded towards the junior curse-breaker, Nigel Wolpert, who came racing across the sand towards Hermione. "I know. I was listening," she said, as the young man panted breathlessly at her side. Hermione walked slowly towards the military team who had just arrived. This visit was not what she had expected when she had contacted Daniel Jackson.

"Hello," she said as she approached the team, ignoring the significant look Bill was sending her. "I'm Hermione Granger and this is Bill Weasley, who is in charge of this dig."

"Good to meet you," said Jonas cheerfully. "These are Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter and Murray." Colonel O'Neill was an older man, tall with salt-and-pepper hair; Major Carter was a tall, slim woman with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes; Murray was a tall, muscular, black man; and Jonas Quinn was around the same height as Major Carter. Standing next to these people, the petite witch felt tiny. "We're here because of an email you sent to Daniel Jackson. He's… unavailable, so we're here on his behalf."

"Nice to meet you all," said Hermione politely. "You'll forgive me if I'm a little blunt here, I hope? What exactly is the military's interest in our archaeological dig and my correspondence with Dr Jackson?"

"Classified," murmured the tall man with the salt-and-pepper hair, Jack O'Neill. "We're going to have to take over here."

"Oh, no, you don't!" snapped Hermione. "This project is also classified from our end and you don't have clearance."

"We have the authority to take over," said the younger man with the close-cropped hair, Jonas Quinn.

"Oh, really?" drawled Hermione sarcastically. "The US Government has no authority here in Egypt. We have permission to be here from the Egyptian Government and they haven't informed us that this permission has been revoked. Until we hear from the Egyptian Authorities that you've been authorised to take over, you're not going anywhere near this dig." After years of dealing with arrogant purebloods, Hermione was not willing to take the same nonsense from this Colonel.

"Colonel!" said Major Carter warningly, as the older man started to flex his muscles, figuratively speaking. This team was used to taking over without being challenged—not that there was usually a need to take over, as they tended to sneak in without bringing their actions to the attention of local governments. In this case, Major Carter, who was more diplomatic than her commanding officer, realised that it would not be possible to maintain a covert operation, and moved a little bit away from the group to call their base Commander for instructions. As she did so, Hermione turned to Nigel, who had come back to join them. With a jerk of her head, she indicated that he should follow her. Taking a few steps away from the military team, with Bill and Nigel following, Hermione cast a silent and wandless _Muffliato_. This charm replaced speech with an unidentifiable buzzing noise. It sounded like speech which was pitched too low for those outside the bounds of the charm to make out distinct words.

"Go to the tent I was working in, Nigel, and apparate from there to Gringotts Cairo. Put up a silencing charm first, so they won't hear the noise of the apparition. Tell the Goblins what's happening and ask them to sort this out _immediately._ We're not going to be able to put these people off for long and we can't Obliviate them—their Commanding Officer would notice if they don't complete, or remember, their mission."

Bill nodded in agreement and Nigel took off at a run. "My colleague is going to get this sorted out," Bill said firmly to the military team.

Hermione could sense the impatience coming from the Colonel and tried to defuse the situation before they tried to take over regardless. "How about a compromise?" she suggested. "We haven't yet opened the tomb. What if we agree that no one will enter—either from your team or ours—until we hear from the appropriate authorities?"

"Has the tomb been unsealed yet?" asked Jonas anxiously.

Hermione shook her head. "No. We're not planning on entering until we've managed to translate those runes that are causing us problems—the ones I contacted you about."

"Perhaps I can help?" Jonas suggested.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. "You're not just trying to get ahead of us to the tomb?"

Jonas blushed and the rest of his team rolled their eyes in exasperation as his failure to prevaricate successfully.

"I'm sorry but we can't invite you into our camp just yet," said Bill. "If you wouldn't mind waiting here with Hermione, I'll go ahead and clear the way."

Hermione nodded in understanding but the Americans all looked confused. Hermione smiled sweetly but did not elaborate, knowing that Bill was arranging for all the Goblins on site to portkey back to Gringotts until this situation could be resolved. Instead the petite witch engaged Jonas in a discussion about runes, while his team-mates fidgeted impatiently.

"What is your background in ancient languages?" asked Major Carter. From what she could see, Hermione's knowledge of Egyptian runes could easily rival that of Daniel Jackson. Somewhat surprisingly, given that Daniel was at the top of his field, Sam suspected that Hermione's knowledge may even surpass his own.

"I'm working on my PhD," Hermione replied shortly.

Sam, who was a prodigal who had attained multiple Doctorates at a young age, as had Daniel Jackson, smiled politely but did not comment. Hermione, who knew Dr Jackson's background, shifted uncomfortably—although it was unusual for her to feel at a disadvantage in the Muggle world; that feeling was usually reserved for the wizarding world—knowing that if she had pursued a Muggle education instead of going to Hogwarts, she may have reached Doctorate status at an equally young age.

At last, Bill returned to escort them to the camp. By now it was late evening and the sun was setting. No one was foolish enough to open a tomb at night, so the four Muggles were invited to stay at the camp overnight, while they waited to hear from the Egyptian Authorities.

After supper, Hermione took the opportunity to spar with one of the curse-breakers by the light of the camp fire. She liked to keep up her battle skills and, since the war, had enhanced her magical duelling with martial arts training. Matthew Goldstein² was Bill's second-in-command and the older brother of Anthony Goldstein, who had been in Hermione's year. The Goldsteins were Half-bloods who were quite familiar with the Muggle world, and Matt was a proponent of several martial arts disciplines, something very few magicals understood. Hermione was not interested in learning martial arts for sports' sake; she would not be entering competitions, rather, she wanted to be able to defend herself without a wand. Hermione had done some kickboxing in London but over the past few years she had worked extensively with Matt, who had taken it upon himself to teach Krav Maga to Hermione, this being the discipline—from amongst those that he knew—that he felt was best suited to Hermione's purpose. All the human curse-breakers in Gringotts had been through the war and they all understood Hermione's desire to be able to protect herself.

The military contingent were highly impressed as they watched the tiny witch hold her own against her larger and more muscled opponent, cheering when she managed to put Matt on his back, although he soon recovered and won the bout. Hermione was not yet as skilled as Matt but her defence skills were not inconsequential. Sam exchanged glances with her team-mates. Their particular military command was always looking for scientists with skills in Ancient Languages and it was an added bonus when they came across such a scientist who also had good self-defence skills. Better yet, Hermione's skills were not just for show—she clearly had the attitude of a fighter.

By morning, word had come through from the authorities. "The Americans have called in favours from the Egyptian Government. The military team is looking for canopic jars with organic matter inside. We're to scan for organic matter without opening the jars and hand them over. If we find any, we're also to look for a decorative hand ornament, which should be in the vicinity and hand that over to them too." Here Bill handed over a picture of a device Hermione would later come to learn was called a Kara kesh. "They'd also like to photograph any writings. Apart from that, they're not interested in the contents of the tomb. As the Goblins are only interested in treasure, they've agreed to this compromise."

Hermione sighed; she enjoyed the intellectual challenge of working for Gringotts but it did not satisfy her. She was not interested in treasure hunting and would prefer to feel that she was doing good in the world. "We open the tomb and tell them when it's safe to enter, right?" she clarified. The Egyptian wizards had laid some very nasty curses on the tombs and it was not advisable to risk the Muggles.

"Yes," Bill agreed. "But they won't wait indefinitely for us. When do you think we can start opening the tomb, Hermione?"

"The runes don't make any sense," _unless Daniel Jackson's theories of alien spaceships are correct_ , she admitted privately to herself, "but I don't think they're warning of any danger we can't handle. Give me an hour to go over them one last time with Mr Quinn and then we can proceed," she decided.

An hour later, the curse breaking team cautiously began to open the tomb. The Goblins had returned, heavily glamoured as humans, much to their disgust. However, one of the few things about which the Goblins agreed with witches and wizards was protecting the safety and secrecy of the magical world. They grumbled, but they accepted the necessity for the glamours under the circumstances.

It was slow work and having a military team who just wanted to charge ahead regardless of any dangers did not help the stress levels of the Gringotts employees. The Muggles had an uncompromising belief in the efficacy of their weapons, but these would not protect against magical hazards. It took three days before the Gringotts expedition was ready to allow entry to the military team, by which time they had been recalled and replaced by colleagues of theirs from the same command, much to Jonas' disgruntlement—he was inherently curious and really wanted to see inside that tomb.

"Colonel Alexander Paxton²," the new team leader introduced himself. "And these are Major Connor Kelly² and Lieutenant Arnie Brock². You don't need to worry about the Statute of Secrecy with us—we're all magical. When we heard there was a holdup, we did some checking and, when we realised this was a Gringotts project, we pulled some strings to have our colleagues recalled and be assigned here in their stead. It's a pleasure to meet you all—especially you, Miss Granger. We kept up-to-date with the war in Britain and we've heard a lot about you."

Hermione made a face; she did not like her fame. However, the bushy-haired witch pulled herself together to reply graciously and to chat with their guests.

Exploring the tomb went much more smoothly now that they did not have to worry about hiding magic. The Goblins were very relieved to drop their glamours and, by their gruff standards, were positively welcoming to the replacement military team whose presence had allowed them to do so. Once all the booby-traps and curses had been cleared, the excavation of the tomb went quickly and the military team soon located what they had come for. Through magical scans, the curse-breakers identified the canopic jars with organic matter inside and the hand ornament and gladly handed them over.

"I can't explain what's in the canopic jars—that's classified information—but understand that it's as dangerous as an Imperius Curse, probably even worse," the Colonel explained. Given that the Imperius was classified as an Unforgiveable Curse, that was saying a lot, and the Gringotts representatives promised they would contact Colonel Paxton if ever such items were found in any future excavations. Colonel Paxton and his team then took extensive photographs of the writings within the tombs and went on their way. Life at the excavation site soon went back to normal and between her job and her studies, Hermione forgot all about the unusual encounter.

.o.O.o.

¹ I'm not sure if it was still possible to sit a Botany A Level when Hermione would have sat her A Levels in this story (I don't know exactly when it was discontinued) but I'm including it in Hermione's results regardless.

² All original characters.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple of months later, Hermione was in her flat in London. She was between Gringotts projects and was concentrating on her PhD, wanting to finish it as soon as possible. Of course, it was not normally possible to complete a Doctorate this quickly, but Hermione had been studying Ancient Runes since she was thirteen years old. A true know-it-all, as the late Professor Severus Snape had dubbed her during her schooldays, Hermione had always made a point of learning everything as thoroughly as she possibly could, and she was a born researcher. With the new writings that Hermione was discovering and translating through her work with Gringotts, it truly had not been hard for the intelligent witch to come up with a working hypothesis to explore for her Doctorate and to research the hell out of it. That done, all Hermione had left to do was to complete the actual writing of her thesis and present her findings. Of course, it helped that Hermione had access to sources of material that the average PhD student did not; indeed, the Hogwarts, Gringotts and (thanks to Bill Weasley's wife) Beauxbatons libraries had been particularly useful. Hermione expected her _viva voce_ examination—or thesis defence—would take place by Easter, with any necessary amendments being made immediately after that. The speed of completion of her PhD was extraordinary, but that was typical Hermione Granger with regard to academics.

Hermione was working on her computer, when she noticed that she had received an email. Being ready for a break, Hermione opened the email, to see that it came from Samantha Carter. To Hermione's surprise, Major Carter was inviting her to come to the States to consult with regard to translating the writings from the tomb where the military teams had collected the canopic jar. Hermione read the email three times before she took it in. She truly did not understand why the US Air Force would need archaeologists and experts in Ancient Languages on staff, nor did she understand why the USAF would be interested in the excavations of ancient tombs. However, the offer seemed quite straightforward and there was really no reason to turn it down—it would not even interfere with her Doctoral studies. With a sigh, Hermione wrote back to accept the offer.

A week later, Hermione was at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, being escorted through several checkpoints to a drab and empty office, where Jonas Quinn was waiting for her. Jonas explained what was needed from Hermione as he gave her a tour of the facility—or the areas she was allowed into anyway.

"I'm sorry but my lab is in the restricted area. You can use the phone in your office to contact me and I'll come to you," he said and left Hermione to her work.

When she had been there for three days, Colonel Paxton stopped by Hermione's office. "My team and I are having a barbecue this evening. Would you like to join us?" he asked.

"A barbecue in Colorado in February? Isn't it a bit cold out?" Hermione asked incredulously. The snow was rather heavy on the ground.

"Oh, no need to worry about that. We've got a _charming_ area that's quite warm," replied the Colonel with a wink.

Understanding from this that warming charms would be applied, Hermione agreed happily. She did not know anyone in Colorado Springs apart from those she had met in Egypt and she was lonely. With the invitation from a fellow magical, she would be able to relax and not have to worry about the need to watch her tongue when talking about her background.

Unbeknownst to Hermione, she had been the subject of some intense discussion in the lower levels of the facility, those she had been prohibited from entering. General George Hammond was in a meeting with Jonas Quinn's team, otherwise known as SG-1, and Colonel Paxton's team, otherwise known as SG-23.

"But I can't find anything about her! It's like Hermione Granger disappeared from the age of eleven until the age of twenty. I know she sat her high school exams but there's absolutely no other information available about her, except her exam results. We don't even know what school she went to!" exclaimed Samantha Carter, who was normally able to hack any information the base may need.

"We need her, Major Carter! How many people do you know who are as conversant with Ancient Languages as Dr Jackson and also have self-defence skills? Your average academic is no Indiana Jones!" protested Lieutenant Brock.

"Excuse me, Carter," interrupted Colonel Paxton. "Is your only objection to Miss Granger the fact that you can't manage to dig up information about her high school years?"

"It's rather important, don't you think, Paxton?" drawled Jack O'Neill sarcastically. "She's obviously hiding _something_."

"And what if I tell you I know exactly where she was and what she was doing during that period?" replied Alexander Paxton.

Sam looked at Alex, eyes wide with surprise. "You? But how? No disrespect, Colonel, but I wouldn't have thought that your computer skills were such that you could obtain information I haven't managed to find." Sam was not being rude; she simply had far superior computer skills to the average military person in their base, and they all knew it.

Alex turned towards General Hammond, who was sitting at the head of the conference table, quietly observing his subordinates. "General, when my team and I were appointed to this command, I believe the President himself informed you that certain aspects of our background were classified, even from you? Well, Miss Granger, has the same classification. I'm willing to vouch for her. Hell, I'm willing to have her on my team!"

That caught General Hammond's attention. The SG teams all knew the need to include a scientist on their teams—the linguists also fell under the auspices of the science department—but none of them liked it. SG-23 was the worst in that respect. They had strongly resisted having a fourth member added to their team, even though the SG teams were designed to be four people strong, but General Hammond had received highly unusual orders regarding this team when they were assigned to his command. Namely that they were not to be split up, nor were they to be obliged to include a fourth person on their team, unless they so wished. General Hammond would have liked to protest these orders but they came from the President himself. So it was quite a shock when SG-23 actually volunteered to take on Hermione Granger.

"You think we can trust her?" the General asked Alex.

"I _know_ we can," Alex replied.

General Hammond nodded decisively. "Well, that's good enough for me. Sound her out, Colonel."

"Yes, sir." Alex stood in respect as his CO rose from his seat and left the room. Ignoring the slightly suspicious looks coming from SG-1, he jerked his head to indicate to his team that they should follow him, and left the room. "Team night tonight," he muttered to his team as they made their way along the corridor. "I'll invite Granger."

That evening, Hermione spent a very pleasant evening with SG-23 and their families. As Alex drove her back to the hotel where she was staying, he took the opportunity to sound out Hermione and see if she might be interested in joining the Stargate Command, or SGC as it was known.

"So, Hermione. How do you like working for Gringotts?" Alex asked bluntly.

"The Goblins treat me well enough," she replied blandly, an eyebrow raised in a silent inquiry as to the reason for the question.

Alex smiled slightly in response. "Is that your dream job or is there something else you'd rather do?"

Hermione snorted. "Such as? The British Ministry still doesn't allow Muggleborns to be employed in any meaningful positions, Hogwarts' Charter won't allow for Muggleborns on staff—except perhaps as a caretaker; the current caretaker is a Squib—and it was only with the assistance of the Goblins that I managed to get a Mastery because no one bothers to tell Muggleborns like myself that you have to apply for apprenticeships almost as soon as you begin Hogwarts."

"There are other countries than Britain," Alex observed neutrally.

Hermione sighed. "I know, and I did consider it, but I wasn't sure it would be any better anywhere else. I did actually seriously consider returning to the Muggle world but then I got the offer from Gringotts and it seemed like my best option at the time."

"And now?"

"Now I have Muggle and magical Masteries in Ancient Languages, or Runes, and have all but completed a Doctorate in the subject. I'm preparing to begin a Mastery in Arithmancy, which I'll combine with a degree in Mathematics."

It was Alex' turn to raise an eyebrow. "That's quite a change, from Ancient Languages to Mathematics."

Hermione smiled. "Arithmancy was my favourite subject in Hogwarts but, given that I was working with curse-breaking teams for the Goblins, a Mastery in Ancient Runes was initially the more practical option. Now it's time for me to do something for myself."

"Will the Goblins allow you to take the time to do your Mastery if it doesn't directly help them?"

"They do make use of Arithmancy, even if Ancient Runes are more practical in the field teams. I'm only a freelancer, though, so I can take whatever time I want in between projects."

"I'm surprised they haven't added you to their permanent payroll—and tied you up in a contract that will keep you on staff for life!"

Hermione looked embarrassed. Although this was well-known in Britain, the Goblins had nevertheless done their best to hush it up, so it was only too likely that Alex and his team would be unaware of the incident. "During the war, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and I had to rob Gringotts. The Goblins understand why it was necessary and they admire my intelligence and ingenuity, but they don't trust me."

"So, let me get this straight," said Alex incredulously. "You were one of the key people involved in ending the war, you're widely acknowledged as the most intelligent and capable witch of your age, and yet no one in the British wizarding world deems you worthy of employment?"

Hermione blushed and blinked her eyes rapidly to stop tears falling. It still hurt greatly that after all she had done for the wizarding world she was still regarded as inferior, that even five years after the war little had changed.

"Do you at least enjoy the work you do for Gringotts?" Alex asked kindly.

"I like that it's intellectually challenging but it's not what I would have chosen. I don't have the treasure-hunting bug."

"What would you rather be doing?"

"I wanted to make a difference," she whispered.

"Well, in that case I'd better get my offer in before the United States Ministry gets word of you being here and snaps you up! Would you be willing to work with us? I assure you it's a genuine offer and you'll get all the respect you should have got in Britain. Hermione, I'll be honest with you: we really need someone with your skills and knowledge, and you'd definitely be making a difference."

"What? But how on earth could I be of use to the United States Air Force? What can you possibly want with a witch who has nothing but a degree in Ancient Languages? I'm no soldier."

"First of all, if there's anything I know about you, Hermione Granger, it's that you most definitely are a soldier, just not in the Muggle military. As for what you can offer us… well, that's a long story, and there's quite a lot of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements you'll need to sign before I can tell you." Alex glanced at the petite witch and was delighted to see a definite air of interest about her. "You're here for another week, aren't you? Think about it and let me know before you leave if you're interested, all right?"

Hermione nodded absently. Her mind was racing. She was thrilled with the offer, as it seemed more enthusiastic than any other offer she had received since leaving Hogwarts, but she was very puzzled as to the reason for it. Arriving at her hotel, Hermione politely thanked the Colonel and retired to mull over the offer.

It was two days later and Hermione sat in her borrowed office listening to the phone ring as she dialled Alex Paxton's extension.

"Paxton." The tone was brusque and businesslike.

"Colonel, it's Hermione Granger."

"Hello, Hermione." Alex' voice warmed considerably when he heard who was calling him. "Dare I assume that this means you've made a decision?"

"I think I have. I'd like to know more, please, if that's possible?" she asked softly.

"I'll be up to get you in just a few minutes," he replied.

Hermione was soon being escorted by Alex Paxton down into the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain, much to her surprise. She had realised that there were more levels below the ones she had access to but had not realised just how far down the base went. Alex escorted Hermione into a conference room that had a viewing window, which was blocked by a solid steel shutter. Hermione quickly waded her way through the pile of documents she was required to sign and then looked up at Alex expectantly.

Alex smiled and made his way over to a door that obviously led to an office, although again, the window from the office out into the conference room had been blocked. Alex knocked and entered, returning a few minutes later with Jonas Quinn and a stocky, bald man with a Texan accent, who was introduced as General Hammond, the Commanding Officer of the base.

An hour later, Hermione was in shock. Apparently, Daniel Jackson's theory about alien starships was no theory. Not only were they real, but Earth was at war with the particular alien race that used these starships, a race which sounded just as bad as—if not worse than—Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Much of what the SGC had learned about these aliens came from the hieroglyphics found in Egyptian tombs, and the organic matter in the canopic jars were the aliens themselves: a race of sentient, snake-like, parasitic symbiotes that forcibly invade and control a host body, hence Colonel Paxton describing them as comparable to the Imperius Curse. These Goa'uld had stolen technology from another alien race, known as the Ancients, and with the use of an Ancient device known as the Stargate were able to travel almost instantaneously across the galaxy. It was possible to dial a Stargate on another planet, much as one would dial a telephone number, and when a connection was made, a stable wormhole was created, through which it was possible to step through and travel from one Stargate to the other.

Hermione had no doubts about accepting the job. For all that she was fed up with fighting, this was a job where she would be making a difference. Hermione would be working with the SGC as a scientist, translating runes and helping to use the knowledge contained within to develop technologies that would aid Earth in its defence. As a scientist who was able to handle herself in a fight, she would be assigned to a field team, rather than being solely based in the labs. She was given a month to pack up in the UK and was offered the assistance of the United States Air Force (USAF) in relocating, which she declined, preferring to use magical means. Hermione did, however, make a point of ensuring General Hammond's agreement that she would be released to return to the UK in order to sit her _vida voce_ examinations, so that she could gain her PhD. Hermione did not mention her intention of reading for a degree in Mathematics, as she was not sure if this would be encouraged. Furthermore, Hermione felt somewhat lacking when compared to Samantha Carter, whose knowledge of Astrophysics and Quantum Mechanics, together with Engineering and Mathematics, was prodigious. Hermione was not used to being outclassed in the brains department and did not like the feeling of inferiority it engendered in her. She had suffered quite enough of that in the wizarding world and did not want to be patronised by Sam Carter for her interest in Mathematics. Of course, if Hermione was being truly honest with herself, she was not sure that Sam really would patronise her, but she was feeling sufficiently unsettled as to read more into Sam's attitude than perhaps was there.

Hermione soon settled into her new job. She was required to undergo fitness, self-defence and weapons training before she would be allowed through the Gate. Hermione had thought herself reasonably fit and had thought that her self-defence skills were adequate, but soon found out otherwise when put through her paces by Teal'c. He was the member of SG-1 who had been introduced as Murray at the Gringotts dig. Teal'c was actually a Jaffa warrior from the planet Chulak, who had made his home on Earth in order to fight the Goa'uld, who had enslaved much of the galaxy. When SG-1 had first met Teal'c, the Jaffa warrior had been First Prime to the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis. Jack O'Neill had offered him the opportunity to defect and help the Tau'ri—the Goa'uld name for humans—fight the System Lords and Teal'c had taken Jack up on his offer. It had taken very little effort on Jack's part to persuade Teal'c, who had believed that finally here was someone able to stand up to the Goa'uld. Murray was Teal'c's cover name when he did not want to bring attention to his real and—for Earth—unusual name of Teal'c. Hermione, of course, easily accepted this without comment, being only too familiar with having to maintain a cover. Teal'c worked Hermione hard but she did not complain, as she knew this training might one day save her life. In amongst all the training, Hermione was also working on several translation projects with Jonas. Hermione was very impressed with the Goa'uld technology, especially the Zat'nik'tel, or Zat gun as it was more colloquially known in the SGC, which was a type of stun gun.

Finally, unbeknownst to the rest of the SGC, Hermione was also regularly duelling magically with SG-23, to which team she would be officially assigned as soon as her training was complete. SG-23 and their families had welcomed Hermione into their midst and had made a point of introducing her to their friends in both the military and the magical communities. There was a small magical commercial area in Colorado Springs, with a larger one in nearby Denver. As Colorado Springs was home to a number of military installations, there was a magical gym in the city, where it was possible to practise duelling—there were plenty of magical military personnel stationed in Colorado Springs, for longer or shorter periods, who wanted to maintain their magical combat skills, and SG-23 made sure that Hermione made full and regular use of the magical gym.

One evening, after a long and sweaty duel, the four team members had sat down on the gym floor to review their duel, after which Colonel Paxton asked Major Kelly to erect silencing wards.

"Don't worry about it," said Hermione, casting a silent and wandless _Muffliato_. It was much quicker and simpler than erecting wards.

"What spell is that?" asked Major Connor Kelly interestedly. By this time, Hermione was on first name terms with her team, although the three military members of the team continued to address each other by the appropriate military designations.

" _Muffliato._ It was created by my former Potions Professor, who was also rather good at Dark Arts and at spell creation. It creates a buzzing sound, which sounds to people outside the boundaries of the spell like speech that's pitched too low to make out distinct words. Of course, they really are hearing buzzing rather than actual speech, but they believe they're hearing speech," Hermione explained.

"That's a very useful spell," said Alex Paxton approvingly, and Hermione promptly taught it to her team.

"What's the name of your Professor who created the spell?" asked Lieutenant Arnie Brock curiously.

"Severus Snape. He died in the war," replied Hermione sadly.

"Wasn't he a Death Eater?" asked Connor, somewhat tactlessly.

"No, he was a spy for the Light. He was a brave man and a hero, and we would never have won the war without him," said Hermione, giving them a brief history of the deeply unpleasant yet admirable man who had taught her for six years.

"Your Professor Snape sounds like someone we could have used in the SGC," said Alex. "Now, moving on. How's your wandless magic, Hermione?"

Hermione made a face. "I can do most magic wandlessly but I'm not sure how well I can sustain wandless magic during a prolonged fight or a duel. I need to improve my stamina."

Alex sighed. "We're going to want to work on that with you. You can take your wand through the Gate if you have an invisible holster with anti-Muggle, anti-theft and anti-summoning charms on it. We all manage better with a wand than without, but as far as we're aware, the Goa'uld aren't aware of magic yet and we want to keep it that way. If the Goa'uld were to take a magical as a host it would be disastrous."

"Do you three take your wands off-world with you?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, but we use wandless magic as much as possible to try and make sure the Goa'uld don't find out about magic. We've even been known to snap our wands rather than have them be discovered. The wand-maker in Denver is doing good business out of us; fortunately, he understands not to ask questions when he sees our military IDs."

Hermione nodded. "I'll practise," she promised. "By the way, does Occlumency help against the Goa'uld?"

"We're not sure," replied Arnie. "We're the only magicals in the SGC and none of us has ever been taken as hosts or been at the receiving end of a Kara kesh, the hand device. You know that has multiple functions, don't you?"

"Yes, it can act as a shield, torture or kill, or can form a neural link to share information. It can also be used to control Goa'uld technology," replied Hermione, as though she were answering a question in class back at Hogwarts.

"How are your Occlumency shields?" asked Connor.

"They haven't been tested," explained Hermione. "I taught myself but the only Legilimens I know were Professor Snape and Albus Dumbledore, both of whom died during the war."

"Well, we can take care of that," said Alex. "We all know Legilimency; you should probably learn it, too."

"Can any of you teach me?"

"I will," said Connor.

"Thank you. Would you like to test my Occlumency shields now?"

" _Legilimens_ ," said Connor promptly, without warning. However, Hermione maintained basic shields at all times and immediately strengthened them."

"Good," said Connor approvingly after a minute. "Your Occlumency shields could be stronger, but they're adequate. Try asking Teal'c to teach you to Kelno'reem. You probably won't be able to lose yourself in the Jaffa meditation to the extent Teal'c does but meditation will help with your shields. We'll test your shields regularly from now on. Keep working on them—the more you use them, the stronger they'll become."

"All right," said Hermione. "Now, what first? Legilimency or wandless magic?"

"Neither," said Alex with a laugh. "We're too tired for both tonight. Meet us here tomorrow evening and we'll start working with you—an hour or so on each. We're not scheduled for another mission until next week, so we'll keep working every day until then. We also expect you to keep working on those skills when we're off-world without you."

"Understood," said Hermione.

The Muggleborn witch did as suggested and at the first opportunity, asked Teal'c to teach her how to meditate. "I've always had trouble calming my mind—I'm always too busy thinking of a dozen or more things at once. I know I probably won't be able to Kelno'reem properly but simply learning how to meditate could really help me—if you don't mind teaching me, that is?"

Teal'c did not mind and Hermione began learning how to meditate with the Jaffa. Between that, her fitness, self-defence and weapons training, her practice in Occlumency, Legilimency, wandless magic and magical duelling, her translation work for the SGC and her work on her degree in Mathematics and her Mastery in Arithmancy, which she had now begun, Hermione barely had a minute to breathe.

All-in-all, the bushy-haired witch was very grateful when Easter came along and it was time to go to the UK for her _vida voce_. Hermione had at first thought to refuse General Hammond's offer of free air travel—a perk of working for the USAF—as a portkey would cut down the amount of time she would need to spend travelling, but when she began to think about how she would need to create false travel records to keep SG-1 happy—she knew they had not stopped investigating her background—Hermione decided it was more trouble than it would be worth. _'Besides, I can use the travel time to meditate and sleep,'_ Hermione concluded, knowing that she was in desperate need of the latter commodity.

.o.O.o.

The _vida voce_ went off without a hitch and Hermione was delighted to be offered her Doctoral degree unconditionally. Of course, Hermione being Hermione, she had been convinced she would fail, but Dr Schuyler and Daniel had both assured her she would pass with no trouble. Which she did, to the surprise of no one who knew her. Unfortunately, Hermione was not able to stay in Britain for long this time, as she was needed at work. However, she promised she would be back in July for Ron and Megan's upcoming wedding. Although everyone had been expecting them to marry ever since they first started dating, they had chosen to wait a while, until Ron had finished his Auror training and had become established in his career.

While in Britain, Hermione made a point of catching up with her friends. She was staying in the Weasley's home, the Burrow, since she had given up her flat in London, and went out a few times with Ron and Harry. Although Hermione was very excited about her job with the SGC, she missed her best friends.

"You look happier than I've seen you in quite a while," Ron commented.

"I am," Hermione smiled. "I'm really enjoying my new job."

"And you can't tell us about it?" said Harry, shaking his head. "Why on earth does the United States Air Force need an expert in Ancient Runes?"

"Harry…" said Hermione warningly. "It's classified. I've told you that."

"I know," said Harry in resignation. "It's just weird, that's all."

"I know it is," agreed Hermione. "But it's a good fit for me."

All too soon, it was time for Hermione to return to Colorado Springs and the SGC, or Stargate Command. She missed all her friends from Britain terribly, but what she was doing was both important and fulfilling. However, Hermione was not too sad about leaving, because she would be going on her first off-world mission when she returned to work.

When Hermione was cleared for Gate travel, she began going on missions with SG-23. Of course, these missions were not without danger, but fortunately, they never seemed to attract the kind of trouble that the SGC's flagship team, SG-1, almost invariably managed to find.

Hermione's first mission was a particularly easy one, with Teal'c as her trainer accompanying them to see how Hermione handled herself in the field before he declared her training complete. After nearly a year on the run from Death Eaters, Hermione had developed good field instincts and survival skills, which soon came back to her. Only her team knew of Hermione's war time experiences, and so Teal'c was surprised to see that working with Hermione was much like working with his own team-mate, Samantha Carter. Sam had extensive military training and experiences, and was usually the one to pull SG-1 out of the fire when they ran into trouble off-world, something which Hermione had similarly spent seven years doing with Harry and Ron. Of course, Teal'c being Teal'c and not one for idle chatter, he did not comment on this but his eyebrow rose higher and higher up his forehead. Teal'c was more used to the scientists at the SGC being a hindrance, who needed to be taken care of when off-world, rather than able to contribute fully to their team. After that mission, Teal'c gave his—for him—enthusiastic approval of Hermione Granger.

Hermione's first few real missions after that one all went smoothly, however, SG-23's luck eventually turned against them and they were captured by hostiles. It was not the Goa'uld, however. Instead, they were captured by natives as soon as they stepped through the Gate. These natives, who had once been subject to a Goa'uld System Lord had been left in peace for centuries and had no intention of changing the current status quo. Therefore, anyone using the Stargate was immediately captured and subsequently executed.

SG-23 were locked together in a small, crude cell. Through a window that was far too small to use as an escape—even the petite witch would never fit through it—they could see four stakes being erected in the village square.

"Well, they don't have guns, and they're not building piles of logs, so they're not planning to burn us alive. I wonder what they're going to do once we're tied to those stakes," commented Connor, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"We could just apparate right from this cell to the Stargate and leave," suggested Arnie practically.

Alex looked tempted but shook his head. "We need to get our gear back first. Not only do I not want to leave them superior weapons—even if it is only four guns and four Zats—but we need our GDOs or we won't be able to get home."

The Stargate in the SGC was protected by a metal shield. This shield, or iris, covered the Stargate, thus preventing anyone who had not been invited from passing through the event horizon. It was a measure to stop unfriendlies from invading, in particular the Goa'uld, who were very interested in Earth. The iris was made from a Trinium alloy, Trinium being an element that was mined off-world and was a hundred times lighter and stronger than steel when refined. Each off-world team and a number of allies had been issued a Garage Door Opener, or GDO. They used this to transmit an Iris Deactivation Code, which was unique to each team and ally, to the SGC. Only upon receipt of an IDC would Stargate Command open the iris and allow the travellers to step through.

"We still have our wands," Hermione considered. "Do you think you could create some kind of simulation of me, to keep anyone from noticing I'm missing?"

"Why? What are you planning?" asked Alex warily. "You can't _Alohomora_ the door open because there's too many people around; they'll notice. You can't apparate out either, because the noise of the apparition will be heard by everyone. Besides, you don't know where to apparate to that won't have you appearing in the middle of a group of locals. If they realise we've escaped our cell, we'll be too busy fighting off the natives to look for our gear."

Hermione merely smiled sweetly and transformed into a cat. After Voldemort had returned at the end of their fourth year at Hogwarts, Hermione, Ron and Harry had decided to become Animagi, as they had felt that the ability to transform into animals would provide them an added measure of protection. In an emergency, they would be able to transform discreetly and escape, with no one any the wiser as to how they had managed to disappear. Most people who were Animagi had matching Animagus and Patronus forms—Ron certainly did, in the form of a Jack Russell terrier—however, Hermione and Harry had proven to be the exceptions to the rule.

Harry's Patronus was a stag, which represented his longing for his father and the safety and protection the sense of a father's love brought to him, but his Animagus form reflected himself and his love of flying, thus he had become a Peregrine Falcon. Hermione's Patronus was an otter and she had been concerned that her Animagus would match that. While she loved her Patronus, a water-based Animagus form would not be practical. However, during her second year at Hogwarts, she had accidentally transformed herself into a cat-human hybrid after accidentally using cat hair in her Polyjuice Potion, and this must have had a greater effect on her than anticipated even years after the fact, because her Animagus was a cat rather than an otter, and she felt very comfortable in that form. Her coat was a rich chocolate brown colour and she had a very bushy tail, reminiscent of her bushy hair. Unusually for a cat, Hermione's Animagus also had the same chocolate coloured eyes that Hermione did when in her human form. Apart from the very bushy tail and her eye colour, Hermione seemed to be a standard British Shorthair cat, and she blended very nicely into the shadows when she wanted to do so.

Changing back, Hermione said, "In my Animagus form, I can easily fit through that window. I can grab our gear and then we can apparate to the Gate."

"How do you plan to carry all our gear while you're a cat?" asked Connor.

Hermione lifted her shirt to show a tiny bag strapped around her waist. It was the same bag Hermione had used when on the run with Harry and Ron during the war, and she had learned from experience that the safest place to keep it was hidden under her clothes. "It has Featherlight and massive undetectable Expansion charms on it. I can fit the contents of an entire house in here and not notice it. I can stow all our gear in my bag, and then transform back into my Animagus form. Whatever an Animagus is wearing at the time of transformation transforms with us, as though it's an extension of our skin. Things in our pockets also remain in our pockets, like they're part of our clothes. The same applies to things inside this bag, as long as I have it on me during the transformation."

Alex looked approvingly. This was a good plan.

"We can't let Granger do this alone, sir," said Arnie, appalled.

"Why not?" Hermione snarled.

"You're a scientist, Granger. Not a soldier," Arnie said patronisingly.

Alex raised an eyebrow at this but decided to keep quiet and see how Hermione handled Lieutenant Brock.

"And, of course, Death Eaters are just cuddly teddy bears?" the petite witch asked sarcastically, and Arnie paled. He had momentarily forgotten Hermione's history.

"I know I'm not military," Hermione continued in a more even tone. "But it's not my first time in a dangerous situation. I can handle myself. And if one of you casts Disillusionment and Notice-Me-Not charms on me after I transform, I should be able to search the village without being seen."

With that, Alex nodded decisively. "Let's do it. Just don't get too over-confident, Granger," he warned.

"I won't," she promised. Hermione had been in too many dangerous situations to be anything other than extremely careful now, but at the same time, she welcomed the chance to prove herself to her team. They had a tendency to forget she was not the average scientist. While the scientists who joined the field teams were competent in self-defence, otherwise they would not be permitted to join the teams, very few of them had the type of combat experience that Hermione did. The military members of the field teams were used to regarding the scientists as people who needed to be protected rather than as fighters, and SG-23 had also fallen into this trap, despite knowing Hermione's history.

Hermione transformed back into her cat form, which due to the colour of her fur, Harry and Ron had named Honey, after their favourite magical brand of chocolate, Honeydukes. Padding over to Alex, she stretched up, asking to be picked up and he mutely obeyed, finding it a little strange to be picking up his team-mate like this. Casting the Disillusionment and Notice-Me-Not charms, as Hermione had suggested, he carried her over to the window, and she jumped out. Keeping to the shadows, Hermione crept through the village until she found the hut where their gear had been stowed. Grateful that the hut was empty, she quickly transformed back and strapped her own gear on, before grabbing the rest and stowing it in her bag. Hearing voices outside the hut, she transformed back into Honey and made her escape. Once under the window of the cell, Hermione mewed once. Hermione did not realise that the transformation back to her human form had cancelled the charms Alex had cast on her, but fortunately she had not been seen. Alex levitated Honey up to the window and once back in the cell, Hermione transformed back into herself and handed out the gear to her team-mates.

"All right, let's get out of here," ordered Alex, once they were all geared up. "Remember the thicket of trees near the Gate? Apparate there and be prepared to fire wand stunners immediately." Alex did not want to risk killing what appeared to be simple people who were merely trying to protect themselves, even if they had chosen a rather violent means to do so. Stunning a person twice with a Zat in a short period of time would kill them, and he did not want to risk two team members hitting the same person with a Zat blast, not when they had a good alternative at hand.

All four members of the team simultaneously twisted and apparated away. The _Crack!_ of the disapparation had the startled villagers running to their cell, but they were too late—the prisoners had already flown the coop. The similar _Crack!_ of their arrival at the Gate had the villagers guarding it on the alert but SG-23 had the element of surprise and were prepared, immediately stunning the guards before they had a chance to react. As Alex, Connor and Hermione stood guard, Arnie quickly dialled the Gate. As soon as it opened, he sent through their IDC code.

Switching on his radio, Arnie yelled through, "We're in trouble. Open the iris!"

Moments later, the iris, as the physical barrier which protected the wormhole in the SGC was known, had been opened and the team, raced through the wormhole. Just in time, as more villagers were closing in on them. The wormhole was shut down as soon as they were all safely through and the iris was closed. As SG-23 caught their breath, they all immediately began mentally editing just what they could and could not say to the General in their debriefing.

Once they had passed their obligatory medical exams and showered, they managed a quick confab in the locker room.

"We can tell the General, we got out the cell when I picked the lock," suggested Hermione.

"You know how to pick locks?" asked Arnie with an appreciative grin.

"Yes, I got a friend to teach me. He and his brother taught themselves years ago, when they were still subject to the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and couldn't use magic outside school. The twins always viewed locked doors as a challenge. Not because they wanted to steal anything, but due to insatiable curiosity—they always wanted to know what was on the other side," said Hermione with a fond grin as she thought about George Weasley and his twin, Fred, who had died in the war.

"That works for me," said Alex approvingly. "We'll tell Hammond you picked the lock, we sneaked out and grabbed our gear, and then made a run for Gate, using Zats to stun the natives we met along the way."

With that, the team went off for their debriefing. If General Hammond suspected he was not being told the complete story, he said nothing. He was used to off-world teams fudging details on occasion and understood that sometimes decisions had to be made in the field that would not be well-received by the higher-ups. He had been a field officer himself once and so allowed those under his command to keep their secrets, or be creative in their reports, trusting their judgement. The members of the SGC were a remarkable group of people, who responded well to their Commanding Officer's belief in them, and did not take advantage of it.


	3. Chapter 3

When Hermione returned to Britain towards the end of July for Ron and Megan's wedding, she decided to stay with Harry, since Molly Weasley would be in full-on wedding preparation mode and Hermione wanted to avoid the chaos. On her first evening back, Harry tentatively asked if she would like to go out for dinner.

"You're probably really tired and jet-lagged though, because you flew here the Muggle way."

"No, it's not too bad. I spent the journey meditating and sleeping. It was quite relaxing, really. Besides, I took a Jet-lag Potion, so I'm fine," she replied.

Harry gaped at Hermione in shock. "There's a Jet-lag Potion?"

Hermione laughed. "Oh, yes. Most magicals use magical travel, of course, but there are a lot of magicals in the American Armed Forces and they tend to travel by military transport, just like I did now. Only the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a few select others are privy to knowledge of magic, so it's not always possible for personnel to travel by magical means without giving away the secret. So the Americans developed a Jet-lag Potion for use by magicals in the Armed Forces, which can be taken discreetly, no one the wiser. As I'm currently employed by the US Air Force, I have access to the potion."

Harry shook his head. "The things the British wizarding world misses out on because they ignore the Muggle world."

Hermione shared a rueful smile with Harry. This was something they, and some of their other Muggleborn and Half-blood friends, complained about often. Of course, they all loved the wizarding world and being able to do magic, but they all agreed that the Muggle world also had much to offer. This was something that their Pureblood friends, no matter how liberal, simply did not manage to appreciate.

The two friends headed out to a nice restaurant in Muggle London, wanting the anonymity they would not be able to get in the wizarding world.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Hermione gently, once they had their meals in front of them. Although he was clearly happy to see Hermione, she could tell that something was bothering her friend.

"I'm not sure where to begin," Harry sighed despondently.

"At the beginning?" suggested Hermione, with a twinkle in her eye.

"Not helpful, Hermione!" Harry snorted through a half-hearted laugh.

"Harry," Hermione said gently, putting her hand on Harry's and squeezing it in comfort. "Just talk. Let it all come out. I'm sure I'll manage to muddle my way through it—I do know how to speak Harry Potter, after all these years."

"Well, you know how I always wanted to be an Auror? Never really considered anything else?"

"Yes, I know. And you achieved that, Harry. You passed your training with flying colours," said Hermione encouragingly.

"Yeah, but I'm not really an Auror. All I do is paperwork. All I've ever done since not long after I completed training is paperwork."

"Why is that, Harry? I very much doubt you would have achieved such good results if you were incompetent. In the days of Cornelius Fudge or Rufus Scrimgeour, they might have passed you if were incompetent, simply so the Auror Office could say it has the Boy-Who-Lived on staff. I don't see Kingsley allowing that, though. He's more honourable than that. Besides, if that were the case, you wouldn't have received the top results of your class."

Harry sighed again. "It's that bloody wand," he said quietly. "When Aurors are called out to incidents, we aren't exactly dealing with law-abiding citizens who want to pass out warm fuzzies to the general populace. So every time I responded to a call, the criminals, Death Eaters, whoever they were, would immediately attack me, trying to gain mastery of the Elder wand. It was making me a liability and putting everyone else in danger, so they took me off active duty. I asked if I could at least assist in training new recruits but Kingsley and Gawain Robards, the Head of the Auror Office, don't want anyone duelling me, in case I'm defeated. That would mean I'd lose the mastery of the Elder Wand, and no one wants to take that chance. So that's it. I'm not allowed to do my job, even though I'm damn good at it. I could have coped better if I'd been injured, or wasn't very good at my job or was being penalised for having done something wrong, but that's not it. I don't want to boast, but I honestly was a good Auror. I never wanted an Order of Merlin or recognition for what I did in the war. All I ever wanted was to get through the war and become an Auror like my dad, and now I can't do that. Kingsley and Gawain Robards are very kind but they made me feel like a burden who they're only keeping on staff out of pity."

"Oh, Harry," breathed Hermione sympathetically. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier? This must have been going on for ages."

Harry shrugged. "I felt guilty complaining. Ron thinks it's hilarious. I think he's also enjoying not being in my shadow anymore. If I complain, it makes me sound jealous, as though I can't stand Ron having his chance to shine. I'm the laughing stock of the DMLE; everyone makes fun of me. I wouldn't mind so much if only Ron would support me. It just feels a bit too much like when everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin back in Hogwarts, or when the entire school apart from you turned against me over the Triwizard Tournament."

Hermione shook her head. She did not agree that Harry was being in any way unreasonable but she guessed that Ron—never the most tactful of people—was no doubt rubbing it in a bit. Their red-headed friend was probably making it impossible for Harry to complain but, to Ron's credit, it was unlikely that he was doing it deliberately. It was far more likely that Ron simply did not realise just how much this was tearing Harry up. When she had once described their other best friend as having "the emotional range of a teaspoon," it had been for a reason, after all. Ron was much more in touch with his own feelings now, thanks to Megan's influence, but still tended to be somewhat oblivious to anyone else's, unless they impacted directly on himself, as Megan's feelings did. While Hermione thought it should be obvious even to Ron that this would be too similar to those incidents in school, she had to remember that Ron had in fact been one of the people who had turned against Harry over the Triwizard Tournament.

"Who made this decision?" Hermione asked.

"Kingsley and Gawain Robards."

"What about Ginny? Why do I get the impression I'm the first person you've spoken to about this? Why haven't you talked to her?"

"She doesn't really get it either. She doesn't understand why I'm upset. She says I either need to get over it and stop complaining, or else just do something different—like playing Quidditch. Like I need even more fame! I never wanted to be famous and I certainly didn't want all this Boy-Who-Lived crap, you know?"

"I know, Harry. Truly I do. And you should have spoken to me, told me what was going on."

"I didn't want to burden you."

"Harry, you'll never be a burden to me. And did you honestly think I wouldn't understand? Me, who even with a wizarding Mastery still can't teach at Hogwarts or get a job as anything more than maintenance staff at the Ministry due to my blood status? Think how many Muggleborns have left the wizarding world or emigrated out of Britain since the war ended," said Hermione gently.

Harry looked dumbstruck. "Oh, Hermione…" he began, only to be interrupted by his friend.

"Harry, it's all right. I didn't say that for sympathy, but to show you that I truly do understand. Don't let Ron or Ginny guilt you over feeling bad. You're entitled to regret that you can't have the career you wanted. Think of it as a period of mourning," the bushy-haired witch advised.

Harry looked at Hermione in relief. "Yes," he said in dawning understanding. "That's exactly it. A period of mourning."

"You're allowed to mourn the loss of that career but don't wallow, Harry. That's not healthy either. You need to move on at some point," Hermione reminded him firmly.

Harry looked downcast again. "I don't know what else to do," he admitted. "I asked Minerva about the Defence position at Hogwarts, but I don't have any NEWTs. Besides, while I was good at the practical side of things, I wasn't really that great at the academic side and I'm not sure I'm the right person to shepherd the kids through their OWLs and NEWTs. Minerva was too polite to say that, but she was definitely thinking it."

Talking of thinking, Hermione had been doing some of her own. "Harry, what would you say to doing some studying if it led you to a suitable alternative career?" she asked.

"Such as?" the green-eyed wizard asked hopefully.

"Harry, there was a reason I used to nag you back in school about taking better academic electives than just Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, and it wasn't only because I'm a swot!" Hermione kindly ignored Harry flushing with embarrassment and ploughed on. "A lot of wards are Charms based, but the really heavy-duty wards are always Rune based, even if they're combined with charms or blood. Warding goes hand-in-hand with Defence but the Auror Department has to contract in curse-breakers from Gringotts any time they need someone to break down wards for them, because they don't have anyone on staff who could do that. What if you studied Ancient Runes and get some training in warding? You could become the Auror Office's resident warding expert. You'd still be making a valuable contribution but you wouldn't be on the front lines. Or perhaps you might be interested in becoming a curse-breaker? The Goblins usually require trainees to have NEWTs in Ancient Runes, Defence and any three of Arithmancy, Potions, Charms or Transfiguration, but as they'd probably only take you on as a freelancer instead of a direct employee, like they did with me, they might be more flexible and accept your Auror training and the honorary NEWTs you were awarded after the war in lieu of actual NEWTs."

"It's rather ironic that you're recommending a career that you didn't particularly enjoy yourself, isn't it?" grinned Harry.

Hermione tilted her head appraisingly. "I was always more interested in the runes that were written on the tomb walls than in the artefacts inside the tombs, but the Goblins were only interested in treasure. I did my job conscientiously when I worked for Gringotts, but I'm sure you can understand why it wasn't exactly my ideal job. You have a bit more Indiana Jones in you than I do, I think. You'd probably enjoy facing the challenges left by the Ancient Egyptian wizards in the tombs," she smiled back.

"I probably would at that," Harry agreed. "But five years until I have my NEWT…"

Hermione stared at Harry. "Why on earth would it take five years?"

"Well, that's how long it would take at school," he replied defensively. "Three years for our OWLs and then another two years for NEWTs."

"That's when you were sitting eight or nine OWLs at once, with a further half a dozen NEWTs. If you took a sabbatical from your job and spent the time learning Ancient Runes instead, you could probably sit your OWL within a year and your NEWT the year after. Even if you also decided to do NEWTs in Defence, Charms and Transfiguration as well, you could still complete all your exams within a couple of years," Hermione pointed out. "Although your Auror training should theoretically surpass your Defence NEWT, if you also have those three NEWTs, Minerva might then feel more confident about taking you on as Defence Professor, because that way she'd know that you're familiar with the theory the students need to learn to sit their exams. You could do your Runes OWL and one or two NEWTs this year and the remaining NEWTs the year after. You'll be fine with the Defence, Charms and Transfiguration practicals; all you'll need to do for those subjects is to brush up on the theory required for the exams."

Harry's eyes widened. "I didn't think about that," he admitted sheepishly. "I don't know if I'd want to do such intensive studying, though. I'm not a natural student like you are."

"You'd still be able to take time out to play a game of Quidditch with your mates, or go on dates with Ginny. You wouldn't need to chain yourself to your books for every waking hour, you know."

"I haven't actually seen much of Ginny recently. We've been going through a bit of a bad patch. Ginny doesn't know how to handle me when I'm in a funk—only you seem to be able to do that—so she's been taking advantage of the fact that as a professional Quidditch player she has to travel a lot, and she's left me alone to stew until I'm ready to stop sulking and grow up."

"Ginny didn't really say that, did she?" asked Hermione, appalled.

Harry nodded. "Of course, she was in a flaming temper at the time. She's just like Ron in that respect. They'll say anything in a temper, those two, even if they don't really mean it."

"Well, now you'll have a new lease of life, so you shouldn't be so depressed anymore," said Hermione cheerily and Harry snorted in response.

"Harry, I won't abandon you," Hermione said more soberly, privately not convinced that Ginny did not really mean those hurtful words she had said to Harry. Ginny was a good friend but she was not the most tolerant of people. The two youngest Weasleys, both of whom had very sharp tongues when they chose, expected the world to work in a particular way and they did not cope well when things did not turn out according to their expectations. Although Ginny had mostly got over her hero-worship of the Boy-Who-Lived, there were still some remnants of that within her; being depressed and in a funk would not fit in with Ginny's notion of Harry Potter. In stories, the hero does not become depressed after everything is over, rather they celebrate, and fun-loving Ginny most likely could not understand why Harry did not fit that mould.

"I'll do my best to research the Elder Wand and see if there's a way out of this for you," Hermione promised, "but I've got a lot on my plate so don't expect answers overnight."

"Dumbledore didn't seem to have any better ideas," said Harry morosely.

Hermione snorted derisively. "We don't know to what extent he actually bothered looking. Dumbledore was obsessed with the Hallows, Harry, and probably wouldn't have tried to neutralise the Death Stick until he was close to death himself, because he liked being Master of the Elder Wand. Heck, he wanted to be the last wizard ever to master that damned wand and so his ego most likely couldn't even conceive of any other options than dying undefeated."

Harry's mouth gaped open and closed like a fish. "You're probably right," he finally admitted in a faint voice.

"Just don't go charging up to Hogwarts to challenge his portrait. You going in guns blazing won't help matters if I need his assistance with my research," Hermione warned.

"Don't worry, I can wait. Just know that I _will_ be having words with Albus Dumbledore's portrait eventually."

"Eventually is fine, just not until I've spoken to him first," Hermione agreed.

"Thanks for the pep talk," said Harry, smiling warmly into Hermione's brown eyes. _'Merlin, I've missed her,'_ he thought. Out loud, he continued, "I'll talk to Kingsley and Bill to see what other options there are for me, whether it be becoming the Auror Office's warding specialist or a curse breaker or something else," he promised.

Harry did indeed talk to Kingsley and Bill but asked them to keep quiet about the conversation until after the wedding, figuring that he would take the opportunity to consider his options and come to a decision while Ron was on his honeymoon, because he did not want Ron trying to talk him out of it, which his red-headed friend would surely do otherwise. Ron never was one for academics and he would be very upset at Harry's change of career, as he loved the idea of them being Aurors together, despite the fact that Harry was nothing more than a glorified clerk these days. Ron would not understand Harry's decision and would likely accuse Harry again of being jealous. Harry knew he would have to deal with Ron's reaction eventually, but preferred to wait until everything was in place before he did so.

The two friends did not discuss the matter again. Harry spent the next few days deep in thought and Hermione chose not to disturb him; she did not want to nag him into any change of direction in career—she knew the choice had to be his. Even if she thought it for the best, it was not her decision to make.

The wedding went off without a hitch—unlike Bill's wedding during the war, which had been attacked by Death Eaters. Megan looked beautiful and both she and Ron were beaming with joy and happiness.

 _'Megan is right for Ron in a way that I would never have been,'_ Hermione thought as she watched the new couple dancing together, thankful that she and Ron had both had the sense to realise that they would not have been suited for each other.

"Wishing that was you?" came a voice from behind her. Turning round, Hermione saw Harry standing looking at her amusement.

"Grateful it's not me," Hermione retorted. "You do remember that Ron and I didn't manage to get through one single day without fighting when we were together, don't you?"

Harry winced. "Oh, I remember all right. I also remember how peaceful it was when you two finally broke up."

"Prat!" said Hermione with a laugh. "Come and dance with me, oh best friend of mine."

"All right, but be warned that my dancing hasn't improved much since the Yule Ball at Hogwarts when we were in fourth year."

"That's what cushioning charms are for," replied Hermione impishly, casting one on her feet, which were shod in strappy sandals.

As they danced, Hermione finally decided to raise the subject again. "Have you come to any conclusions yet?"

Harry shook his head. "I've discussed it with Bill, Kingsley and Gawain Robards. Kingsley and Robards aren't sure the Auror Office needs a full-time warding specialist—that's why they contract Gringotts curse-breakers when they need one—but they think it's a sensible route for me to take. Besides, even if I end up working for Gringotts, if I get beaten by a curse in a tomb, the Master of the Elder Wand will then be a dead wizard. Problem solved."

"Provided that the curse in the tomb doesn't kill you," said Hermione sardonically.

"There's that, of course," Harry agreed insouciantly.

"Have you told Ginny yet? What did she say?"

Harry shook his head. "I haven't told anyone. I wanted to get the wedding out the way first. I didn't want to ruin it with explosions."

"Good thinking, Watson," said Hermione, nodding her head in agreement.

Harry grinned. He had not had the opportunity to read much Muggle literature growing up—the only reading materials in the Dursley home had been the newspaper, Vernon's company reports, Petunia's recipe books and cheap romances, and Dudley's school books—but Hermione had introduced him to some books she thought he might like, Sherlock Holmes among them, and now he read voraciously, something else that Ron could not understand. Not that Ron objected to Harry's new-found love of books, he just did not see the appeal.

Bill came over at that moment to claim Hermione for the next dance. "I understand I have you to thank for a conversation I had with Harry recently," the oldest Weasley son said as they were dancing.

"What do you think?"

"I think it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what Harry thinks." Hermione looked steadily at Bill and he caved in. "All right, all right, I give in. I think it's a good idea. I understand why he can't be on active duty as an Auror but curse breaking ought to suit Harry. It's a realistic alternative career for him—it'll make good use of his already formidable defence skills, for one thing. I think it was a sensible suggestion, if he's willing to take the time to make up the skills he'll need that he doesn't already have. Like you, he might not find it as satisfying as a job that he feels would make a difference in our world, but you know what? He's already done that; he's already made a huge difference. Harry doesn't need to take on the responsibility for policing the wizarding world for the rest of his life. Perhaps it's time to pass on that responsibility to others and think of himself for a change."

Hermione looked at Bill approvingly. "You've said that to Harry, I hope?"

"Of course I have. So has Ginny, but I don't think it went over very well when Ginny said it."

Hermione sighed. "Harry _hates_ being in the public eye—he's had far too much of it, both good and bad—but to him, being an Auror was something he was good at on his own merit, something apart from the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense, even though most of his defensive skills were gained _because_ of him being the Boy-Who-Lived. It's also one of the few ways he has to be close to his parents. Harry became an Auror not because of the skills he gained through his experiences, but because his father was an Auror. It wasn't just a job to Harry, it was important to him."

Hermione hesitated and then decided to say it anyway. "Ginny cares for Harry, but I'm not sure she truly understands all that. I believe Harry's tried to talk to her about it but he's not very good at expressing himself and, to Ginny, being an Auror is just a job. I don't think she sees what it means to Harry. I'm also not sure she realises just how lacking in self-confidence Harry is, since he's always managed to put on a very good act, and how much this has damaged him. Ron and I are the only ones who _really_ know the boy behind the legend, even now, and Ron, as he'll freely admit, isn't very adept at understanding or relating to other people's feelings and emotions. From what I gather, Ginny doesn't understand just how upset Harry is over this and why he doesn't just get another job—like playing professional Quidditch, which he doesn't want to do because it'll put him back in the public eye again."

Bill swore softly. "I knew Ginny and Harry were having a bit of a bad patch but I didn't realise it was this bad."

"Don't say anything to Ginny, Bill!" said Hermione urgently. "If she comes to you for advice, then you can tell her all this but don't let her know it came from me. She won't appreciate knowing I was talking about her relationship with Harry. She already finds it hard that I know Harry so much better than she does, and this wouldn't help."

"I won't say anything to her," Bill promised. "I didn't realise Harry had self-esteem issues, though. I know Ron does but I wasn't aware that Harry does too."

Hermione snorted. "Bill, Harry was raised by people who hated him. He was told by them all his life that he was a freak and a waste of space. They resented his very existence and made sure he knew it. Then Harry entered the wizarding world and spent his entire school years being both revered and reviled, famous—or infamous—for something he didn't remember and which was probably actually his mother's doing. He's inclined to believe that the wizarding world is only interested in the Boy-Who-Lived because that's all that most of them really are interested in, and he's now trying to tell himself that he hasn't been discarded because the Boy-Who-Lived has become a liability."

"Well, you're right that he could be a good curse-breaker. It might actually help him. Even though choosing to become an Auror was largely because that's what his father was, most people associate it with the Boy-Who-Lived aspect of Harry, not with the son of James Potter. As a curse-breaker, he would doing something apart from that. Plus, he would probably be working on projects outside Britain, so that would give him a break from the public attention."

"Yes," said Hermione softly. "You get it."

"And Ginny and Ron don't."

"It's not because they don't care or don't want to get it," Hermione hastened to say. "It's more that they tend not to look beneath the surface, especially Ron. They're the youngest children in a large and loving family, which has made them quite immature in some ways. They both still have some growing up to do, I think. Megan's helping Ron with that, but Ginny doesn't have a Megan to help her, and Harry certainly isn't the right person for that; he may be more sensitive than Ron, but he doesn't believe in himself enough to stand up for his own feelings."

That was when Victoire came running over to dance with her Daddy and Hermione graciously ceded the floor to the enchanting little girl. Looking around as she left the dance floor, Hermione noticed that Professor McGonagall was on her own and went over to talk to her.

"Hermione! It's good to see you, child. Come over and tell me all about your life," Minerva said encouragingly upon seeing her favourite Gryffindor.

"Well, I can't tell you about my job, I'm afraid, but I can tell you that it's challenging, important and I'm enjoying it very much. I've made friends in the local wizarding community and I'm happy."

"And do you have a young man there?"

"I'm afraid not. I've been so busy that dating hasn't been much of a priority."

"Don't get so caught up in work that life passes you by, Hermione," said Minerva looking sad. She had not married until she was forty-seven and her husband had passed away only three years later. Minerva's life had been fulfilling but she regretted that she had wasted so much time before finally marrying the man who had wanted to marry her for many years—it had taken a long time until she had eventually accepted his repeated proposals.

"I'll do my best," Hermione promised. "Talking of work, though…"

"Oh, Hermione," Minerva groaned. "You're on holiday, child. Take advantage of it."

Hermione grinned. "It's not really work. It's more for a private project. I was wondering if I could come to Hogwarts and have a word with Professor Dumbledore's portrait while I'm here. I go back to the States at the end of the week and I'd really like to talk to him before I go, if it won't be too much trouble?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not exactly. I just need to ask him some questions. You'd be welcome to sit in on the conversation."

"Very well, then. Why don't you come tomorrow around two o'clock?"

"Thank you, Minerva. I'll see you then."


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Hermione apparated to Hogsmeade and walked up to Hogwarts shortly before two o'clock. Heading to the Headmistress' office, she told the gargoyle guarding the entrance, "I have an appointment with the Headmistress. May I enter?"

The gargoyle faded away and allowed Hermione to mount the stairs leading up to the office. Knocking on the inner door, Hermione entered when she heard the Headmistress call out.

"Ah, Hermione," said Minerva as the younger witch entered the office. "You're right on time."

While Minerva summoned an elf and requested tea, Hermione took a moment to greet the paintings she knew, namely those of Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Phineas Nigellus Black, the latter of whom had been absent from his portrait in Grimmauld Place while she had been there.

"Now, Hermione. What can we do for you?" asked Minerva when the two women were seated in comfortable chairs before the fire.

Hermione sighed. "Are you aware of the problems Harry has been facing at work?" she asked.

"I know that Harry was placed on desk duty and why. I wasn't aware that there was a problem."

Hermione snorted. "Apart from the fact that he's miserably unhappy and half-convinced that the wizarding world has no more use for him now that he's no longer needed to kill Voldemort?"

"Oh, I'm sure you're exaggerating, Hermione," said Minerva dismissively.

"No, I'm not. Can you honestly see Harry being happy spending the rest of his working life doing nothing but other people's paperwork for them?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

Minerva frowned as she considered this, and a voice from a portrait on a side wall spoke up. "Don't be so obtuse, Minerva. You know that Granger's quite right. Potter's a typical Gryffindor—more of an action type than a behind-the-desk type. And the wizarding world in general is obsessed with the Boy-Who-Lived; they don't care in the least about Harry Potter, and never have done."

Hermione grinned at the portrait of Severus Snape, which had just spoken up. "Thank you, Professor. I'm glad to see you agree with me."

"I do, Miss Granger. However, I should also point out that many people do not end up in their ideal jobs and have to make do as best they can with the jobs they have. It's called growing up."

Hermione nodded. She knew that Severus had been trapped in a job he had hated for seventeen years, because it was important that he be at Hogwarts during that time. Snape would certainly never have chosen teaching as a profession if he had had any other choice.

"I understand that, Professor Snape, and I agree with you. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to change our circumstances if we can. But that's not even the main problem. Let's be honest here: if there's anyone out there who is seriously interested in gaining mastery over the Elder Wand, then Harry's at risk every time he steps foot outside his house, not only when he's on duty, and there are a lot of people who we really don't want to gain mastery over that wand. Professor Dumbledore was safer because no one knew he actually had the Elder Wand. Until the Final Battle, everyone believed it was just a children's fairytale. Anyway, I wanted to ask Professor Dumbledore if he knows of any other way to neutralise the Elder Wand, or if he has any literature on the subject, other than the _Tales of Beedle the Bard_ , that I could use to research it further? It would probably be a good idea to neutralise the Elder Wand sooner rather than later."

"I'm afraid not, Miss Granger. There is nothing written else about the Elder Wand—it passed into the realm of myth—and dying undefeated is the only way I know of to neutralise that wand," answered Professor Dumbledore's portrait sombrely.

Hermione had been afraid of that. "What if we were to snap it in half?" she asked.

"I fear that the backlash would be dangerously explosive."

"Other wands don't have such an effect when they're snapped. How dangerously explosive?" she asked bluntly.

"It would probably take out most of the country with it. Other wands don't have that much power, nor are they so old. The Elder Wand has probably gained in power over the centuries, you see."

 _'Time for Plan C, then,'_ Hermione mused. This was something that was quite common at the SGC. Plans frequently went belly-up and all the off-world teams were so used to this that they had a tendency to take only their backup plans seriously. Not only that, but they were very good at creating those backup plans on the fly.

"What if Harry were to be defeated by a Muggle?" she asked.

"I doubt the Elder Wand would recognise a defeat by fisticuffs," said Dumbledore patronisingly. "It would have to be a magical defeat and a Muggle can't do that, of course."

Hermione snorted. "Muggles have weapons, Professor. Very effective weapons, including ones which have similar effects to a _Stupefy_. I know some Muggles who I can absolutely guarantee could never be found by any magicals. What if one of them were to use an electroshock weapon to stun Harry?"

Dumbledore's portrait looked stunned. "I don't know," he said slowly. "I was unaware that Muggles had such weapons."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Forgive me, Professor, but most Purebloods and a large number of the Half-bloods in the British wizarding world are woefully ignorant about Muggles, and vastly underestimate them. If I set this up, we could see afterwards if the Elder Wand still responds to Harry and, if it all works according to plan, we can release a pensieve memory or pictures showing Harry being defeated. That ought to keep him safe."

"Hermione, surely if Harry is aware of this plan, then that will negate his defeat?" asked Minerva.

"Who said Harry will be aware of the plan?" asked Hermione sweetly.

Minerva gaped at the witch sitting opposite her. Hermione looked at her steadily, and Minerva sighed and nodded. "We should discuss this with Kingsley and Head Auror Robards," she said.

"With Kingsley, certainly, but with no one else. Not yet."

"Hermione, I assure you that Gawain Robards is perfectly trustworthy," Minerva bristled.

"I know that, Minerva, but at this stage I will only discuss this with Kingsley."

Minerva frowned disapprovingly, but moved to make a floo-call to the Minister, asking him to step through to her office. Kingsley was soon sitting with Minerva and Hermione, having Hermione's plan explained to him.

"And you won't give us any details?" Kingsley asked sceptically.

"Not won't. Can't." replied Hermione. "There are very few people who are aware of the particular weapon I propose should be used, or even know of the existence of the person I have in mind to carry out the plan. And those of us who are magical have all sworn oaths not to give away that information without permission."

"I appreciate that," said Kingsley doubtingly, "but you must understand I can't agree without further information."

"Kingsley," said Hermione earnestly, leaning forward to try and convince the Minister of her sincerity. "Do you honestly believe I would do anything that would harm Harry?"

The Minister looked uncomfortable. "Well, no. But…"

"Kingsley," Hermione interrupted. "I'm going to request permission to tell you, but I guarantee that if I do get that permission, it will be for you as Minister for Magic and only you. That's why I insisted Minerva should not ask Gawain Robards to join us here for this discussion."

"I see," said Kingsley thoughtfully. "When do you think you'll receive a reply?"

"I'll ask when I'm back in the States. I don't know how long it'll take before I get an answer. It'll be considered very carefully before a decision is made one way or the other, so don't expect a speedy response. In the meantime, Harry is looking at other career options and that will keep him busy for a while. I told him I'd do some research but that it wouldn't be quick, so he won't be expecting immediate answers. To give my plan a greater chance of success, I trust that no one here—and that includes the portraits—will tell Harry of this conversation?"

Minerva sighed. "I promise, Hermione. And as Headmistress of Hogwarts, I forbid the portraits to discuss your plan with anyone other than myself, yourself or Kingsley."

Kingsley did not speak but simply nodded. Knowing the honourable man, that was good enough for Hermione.

"Oh, I believe that Harry might want to have a word with Professor Dumbledore about the Elder Wand as well. It's all right to talk to him about that, just don't mention my plan," Hermione warned.

Hermione, Minerva and Kingsley spent some time catching up, before Kingsley had to return to the Ministry and Minerva had to get back to work. Hermione took her leave and returned to Grimmauld Place in a very thoughtful mood. _'Plan D would be to blast the damned wand with a Zat three times. That would completely evaporate it. And Plan E would be to 'lose' the wand off-world somewhere. It's a shame we can't just send the wand through the Veil of Death.'_

This had already been considered and rejected out of hand. The Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries had warned Kingsley and Harry against this option, because of the very real risk that whoever tried to send the Elder Wand through would be pulled into the Veil along with it. No one wanted to risk dying in the effort to neutralise the wand, especially not if there might be other options available.

Harry pounced on Hermione as soon as she walked back into Grimmauld Place. "Well, did you have any luck at Hogwarts?" he asked eagerly.

"I'm not sure," she replied. "I think I might have an idea, but it's going to take time. And, no, I can't tell you anything right now, Harry, I'm sorry. Just leave it with me, please? I promise I won't forget about it."

Harry sighed. "All right," he said. "How could I not trust you? I'm just a bit frustrated, you know?"

Hermione nodded. "I know. Have you made any decisions about what to do in the meantime? Or do you want to take more time to think about it?"

"I think I'm going to do it," answered Harry. "I'm not exactly looking forward to spending a couple of years studying but, if I do, it'll definitely give me more options, whether that be as a warding expert or something else."

"I'm glad," said Hermione softly. "Are you going to study Ancient Runes only or are you going to take some other NEWTs as well?"

"Yes, Little Miss Bookworm," Harry teased. "I'm going to sit my NEWTs in Defence, Charms and Transfiguration as well. Herbology and Potions aren't realistic options, as I don't have the facilities to do the practical applications of those subjects under self-study, and I dropped History of Magic, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy at the end of my OWLs. I don't really think they'd help me, anyway."

"No, I don't suppose they would," Hermione agreed. "With your Auror training, plus NEWTs in Defence, Charms and Transfiguration, you really would be a suitable candidate for Defence Professor. Adding a NEWT in Runes ought to set you up nicely. And while you're studying, you can take the time to look around and consider other careers that might interest you as well, so that you'll have more options. Do you have to resign from the Auror Office or are Kingsley and Robards willing to give you a sabbatical?"

"I have a sabbatical for one year, while I study for my Ancient Runes OWL but it's yet to be decided if I'll need to resign the following year while I study for my Ancient Runes NEWT or if my sabbatical will be extended; it'll depend on where I see myself heading at the end of the first year, I suppose. I should also be sitting my Defence, Charms and Transfiguration NEWTs this year, just leaving the Runes NEWT for next year. Minerva said she'll arrange for me to be tested in each subject whenever I'm ready, instead of waiting for the scheduled exam sessions in Hogwarts at the end of the year. She thought it might draw more attention than I want if the kids in school see me sitting exams with them—and it certainly wouldn't help with discipline if I do then end up teaching at Hogwarts."

"What can I do to help?" asked Hermione encouragingly.

Harry looked embarrassed. "Would you help me put together a study schedule? I want to take my studies seriously—I finally understand why you always said it was so important but, back in school, I was just too busy trying to survive, to be honest. Studies took a back seat, I'm afraid. At the same time, though, I'll need to factor in some breaks. I can't study intensively for long periods the way you can. After a few days, I'll probably get very restless."

"That's what evenings and weekends are for," Hermione pointed out with a grin. "If you honestly make a good effort to study hard during the day, you shouldn't need to sacrifice your evenings and weekends. It's only four subjects, Harry, so you should be able to get all your work done during the days. I suggest you contact Professor Flitwick and either Minerva or the new Transfiguration Professor and ask if they would be willing to meet with you once a fortnight or so to assess how you're going and give you feedback and advice when you need it. For Ancient Runes, you could ask either Professor Babbling or Bill Weasley, or both. At the very least, you should ask Minerva for the current syllabi for those subjects, to be sure you're studying the right topics. Once you've done that, if you get it done in the next day or two, I'll gladly help you prepare a study schedule and, as long as you keep to it, you shouldn't have any problems covering the material you'll need for your exams. I agree with the Headmistress: work on Transfiguration, Charms and Defence one subject at a time. Study one subject, sit the exam and them move onto the next subject. Spend half a day working on Runes and the other half working on the other subject to give yourself a break from Runes and clear your head a bit."

"Yes," said Harry thoughtfully. "Those are good ideas. I'll do all that."

"Good. And when I get back to Colorado Springs, I'll dig out all my old notes for you."

Harry looked at Hermione in surprise. "You wouldn't have done that when we were in Hogwarts."

"When we were in school, we had structured lessons with teachers to guide us," Hermione reminded her friend. "You'll still need to do the work yourself but think of my notes as study guides."

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said, looking gratefully at his friend.

"No problem," she smiled back. "Have you thought about what you're going to say to Ron?"

Harry groaned and banged his head on the kitchen table.

"I take it that's a no, then? Harry, just ask him how he would like to do nothing but paperwork. Ask him how he'd like to be the butt of everyone's jokes for months on end. If he stops to think about it, he'll tell you quite honestly that he'd hate it. Once he admits that, ask him how you're any different."

"And when he points out that studying isn't exactly my thing?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. _'That's my boys!'_ she thought. _'Have to spoonfeed them everything when it comes to anything remotely approaching a deep and meaningful conversation.'_ Out loud, she said, "Remind him that this is only for a couple of years, and then you move on to doing a more active job again, whereas if you don't do it, you'll be stuck doing a job you hate until you retire. It's a means to an end, that's all."

"Ron's going to accuse me of deserting him."

"What, the way he deserted you during the Triwizard Tournament? Or during the Horcrux hunt?"

"Hermione," said Harry warningly.

"Harry, I don't hold it against him anymore, but the fact is that when it comes to accusations of desertion, Ron doesn't have a leg to stand on. Challenge Ron to do your job for a month after you being your sabbatical and then see if he wouldn't want to look for a different career if he had to do that indefinitely. It's one thing if you're a natural administrator like Percy, but you're more of an action man, not to mention highly trained and damned good at what you do, so of course you're going to get frustrated."

Harry grinned evilly. "I like that. I'll have to get George to set up a book if Ron agrees. My bet is he doesn't even manage a week."

Hermione rolled her eyes but joined in. "No, I give it two weeks. He'll be determined to prove he can do it, so he'll grit his teeth and suffer—accompanied by a lot of grumbling—until he finally admits defeat."

Harry reached out and shook her hand. "It's a bet."

It was not long before Hermione had to return to Colorado Springs and the SGC, but she kept in touch with Harry, to find out how things were going. Harry had been getting even more depressed sitting in the dark and dingy home in Grimmauld Place all day while he studied, so he had decided to move and was now renting a bright and airy apartment, with plenty of space; he had chosen not to go through the hassle of buying and furnishing his own flat until after his studies were complete—he had quite enough on his plate without that added stress. As far as Harry was concerned, one big advantage to the rented apartment was that it was a Muggle property and so electronics would work, unlike in Grimmauld Place. Electronics would not work in areas that were heavily saturated with magic and the house in Grimmauld Place was certainly that. Harry had even purchased a laptop and was now able to email Hermione, which, given the time difference and Hermione's erratic and busy schedule, made it much easier for the friends to stay in touch.

As predicted, when Ron and Megan had returned from their honeymoon and discovered that Harry had taken a year-long leave of absence from his job, Ron had not taken it well.

"But… but how can you do that? Just leave? We were going to be Aurors together!" Ron stuttered.

"But we're not Aurors together, are we? You're an Auror, I'm not," Harry replied firmly.

Ron's face went red, a sign of an imminent explosion. "That's it, isn't it? You can't stand that I'm doing better than you for once!" he snarled.

Harry did not waste time trying to placate Ron. He simply petrified him. _"Petricifus Totalus!"_ he snapped and Ron glared up at him from the floor, unable to move or speak. "Now, as I was saying," he continued, "Ron, I couldn't care less if you're good or bad at your job. All I care about is that you're my friend—although at times like this I wonder why. Tell me, Ron, as far as you remember, when did I ever want to be like your brother Percy?"

That was a telling question. In a family of strong personalities, Percy was remarkable for his differences to his siblings. Percy was rather stuffy and pompous, while the rest of the family was loud, bold and brash. Percy lived and breathed protocols and paperwork. As a curse-breaker, dragon tamer, joke shop owner, Auror and Quidditch player, his brothers and sister were all mavericks in their own way and none of them understood Percy, who was as much the butt of the family jokes as Harry had been in the Auror Office until he took his sabbatical.

Harry could see that this was beginning to register on Ron. "Tell me, Ron, would you like to do what I do every day? Nothing but sitting at a desk, doing other people's paperwork? Having everyone treating you like shit because the Boy-Who-Lived isn't able to do his job?" As Ron glared at him, Harry continued, "Do you think you could do it? I dare you to spend a month doing the Auror Office's paperwork, and nothing else. No missions, no training the recruits, paperwork only. You'd go mad within a day and you know it!"

Seeing that Ron looked less explosive, Harry released him from the spell and held out a hand to help Ron get up from the floor where he had fallen when Harry placed the body-bind on him. Ron let out an exasperated sigh. "You're right, mate. I would hate it. It's just, we'd planned to work together, you know?"

"Look at it this way, Ron," Harry interrupted. "Now you really do have a chance to shine on your own. Do your best to be the best Auror on the team. Make yourself proud."

Sighing, Ron nodded, then began to laugh in disbelief. Eventually he spoke. "Studying? Seriously? You're going to turn into Hermione!"

Harry laughed along with his friend. "Well, she is going to help me with my studies! Seriously, though, it's the most sensible thing I can do. Even Neville is planning to apprentice under Professor Sprout to gain a Mastery in Herbology when he leaves the Auror Office, you know. Taking a couple of years to study gives me options. I could become the Auror Office's warding specialist, or a curse-breaker. Or, once I have my NEWTs, Minerva might even consider taking me on as Defence Professor." At present, the position was filled by Aurors on secondment, with the assigned Auror changing every year. It was not known if Voldemort's death had ended the curse he had placed on the position but by having an Auror "on loan" instead of having a professor contracted to Hogwarts, the school had at least managed to avoid any accidents happening to the Defence Professor since the war. Harry, however, would be willing to take a chance if Minerva would be willing to offer him the position.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I reckon you'd be good as the Defence Professor. You taught all of us really well."

When the students at Hogwarts had become frustrated over the lack of quality defence tuition, they had formed a private—and, at that time, illegal—Defence Club, known as Dumbledore's Army, taught by none other than Harry himself. Admittedly, Harry had only been teaching practical defence work and not the theory, but if he could prove himself sufficiently academic-minded, between his Auror training and his NEWT results, the Headmistress might consider offering him the position on a permanent basis. Harry had even begun to consider taking a Mastery in Defence Against the Dark Arts, if he could find a suitable Master who would be willing to take him on as an apprentice. However, he wanted to take his NEWTs first; he wanted to be offered an apprenticeship based on his own abilities and not on his reputation as the Boy-Who-Lived. This was something Harry had not even confided to Hermione yet; he knew she would not ridicule him for his ambition but was worried she would be too enthusiastic. Harry did not want to disappoint Hermione if he decided after his NEWTs not to go down that route.


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as she returned to Colorado Springs, Hermione had rounded up the rest of her team and arranged to meet them at the magical gym. As previously, she cast a _Muffliato_ and asked a few pertinent questions. "You told me that the President himself had assigned you to the SGC and had ordered that you be kept on the same team, correct? I know the British Prime Minister is always made aware of magic—I assume the same is the case for the President, hence those orders?"

"Yes, it was felt advisable to have some magicals on the off-world teams just in case. There was a big debate as to whether we would be more useful divided amongst a number of teams but we'd have problems using magic then and we didn't want to share that information widely, since we don't want it getting back to NID or The Trust."

The National Intelligence Department, also known as the National Institute of Defence, was a civilian branch of the US Government, which was often in conflict with the SGC. The majority of the SGC felt—with good reason—that the NID was totally corrupt, and they consequently despised it. They certainly did not trust it. Eventually, members of the SGC had managed to bring down the NID but rogue elements splintered off and formed The Trust, which the SGC considered as an enemy, due to its ruthless willingness to operate outside the rules. Even though the NID was gradually being cleaned up, the magical members of the SGC trusted neither the NID nor The Trust with the knowledge of magic, because they did not fancy being kidnapped to become lab rats. Nor did they want the NID or the Trust to go after the wizarding world as a whole, for that matter. Because the SGC could not prevent information leaking back to these organisations, by Presidential order not even General Hammond as the Head of the Stargate Command was aware of magic.

"So, do you have a means of contacting either the President or the US Minister for Magic, without going through chain of command?" Hermione wanted to know.

"It would depend why," answered Alex uneasily.

Hermione sighed and began to explain. Alex, Arnie and Connor looked at each other in disbelief.

"Let me see if I have this right," Alex said incredulously. "You want Master Bra'tac or another Jaffa to stun Harry Potter with a Zat to neutralize the Elder Wand and then release pictures to the _Daily Prophet_ proving it happened. You need Presidential permission to tell Harry about the SGC and you need Ministerial permission to tell General Hammond and Bra'tac about magic. To make it easier to arrange all this, and so that Kingsley Shacklebolt will give his full support to any announcement that Potter is no longer the Master of the Elder Wand, you want him to be told about the SGC too, and if Kingsley is going to be told, then you think that our Minister ought to be read into the secret as well. Is that it?"

"Yes," said Hermione cheerily. "That's about it."

"Are you mad?" asked Connor in shock.

"Don't be silly," said Hermione. "It's a lot safer to tell magicals about the SGC than the other way round. Don't forget that we can get the magicals to swear oaths not to divulge the information, just like we all did. Non-magicals can make promises but there's nothing to force them to keep those promises."

"Apart from their honour," said Arnie sharply.

"Apart from their honour," agreed Hermione with a nod. "Which won't help them against _Veritaserum_ or a _Legilimens_ or anyone who tries to get information out of them by force. We all know that even the bravest person can only stand up to torture for so long."

Since Hermione was the only one of the team who had personal experience of being tortured, which had taken place during the second Voldemort Blood War, the three military men could not argue with her on that. Besides, they all knew it was true. Members of the SGC were regularly captured and tortured by the Goa'uld and it was only SG-23's luck that this had not yet happened to them. Luck and some judicious use of magic.

"All right," Alex sighed. "I'll make the request. Don't expect a fast answer, Hermione. This request impacts both the magical and non-magical worlds and it's not going to be decided in a hurry."

"I know, I was expecting that. Besides, we go off-world later this week for a month. I'd just like to be sure the request is put in before we go, that's all."

"That we can do," said Alex with relief.

Colonel Paxton was as good as his word and made the request the following day. When he and his team had been assigned to the SGC, a procedure had been set up for the three magical military men to contact the Chief of Staff of the Air Force directly in case of any magical issues concerning the SGC. Colonel Paxton therefore took a portkey to Washington to explain the situation and returned a couple of hours later, with General Hammond none the wiser. Alex did not like deceiving his Commanding Officer but, if Hermione's request were granted, he would no longer need to do so, as General Hammond would finally be made aware of magic. For this reason alone, he was willing to give his support to Hermione's request, as long as the knowledge of the magical world remained restricted to a few key personnel only.

In the meantime, SG-23 prepared for their upcoming off-world mission, with Hermione warning Harry and her other friends from the wizarding world that she would be incommunicado, even to Patronus messages, for the duration.

A month later, SG-23 stumbled back through the wormhole, somewhat bedraggled and weary. It had been a long month. Although the mission had not been a dangerous one, it had been hard work nevertheless. SG-23 had been following up on a first contact made previously by SG-1. They were supervising a science mission to a planet that was brim-full of interesting Goa'uld technology and writings. The information gained had been invaluable. The hardest part had been managing without magic for a month, as they had been living amongst the indigenous population.

"I never realised just how dependent I've become on magic!" Hermione exclaimed on their walk back to the Stargate from the town where they had been living. "I'm a Muggleborn—I shouldn't find it this hard to live without magic!" Her team members just laughed. Working for the Muggle military, this was an adjustment they had to make with every new mission they were sent on.

As soon as SG-23 had showered and undergone the medical checks that were compulsory for all returning off-world teams, they sat down to a debriefing with General Hammond. Upon conclusion of the debriefing, General Hammond had something extra to say. "You've been summoned to a meeting with the President at Camp David. SG-1 and I have also been summoned. We leave tomorrow morning."

The members of SG-23 exchanged puzzled glances. "Harry?" Hermione mouthed and her team members shrugged. They knew as much as Hermione did. Hermione paid a visit to her lab, only to see, much to her dismay, that her desk was overflowing with incoming work. The bushy haired witch immediately set to, trying to sort the pile of work from most urgent to least urgent, before they would be off to Maryland the following day. Hermione also had to submit papers that she had completed for her Maths degree and her Arithmancy Mastery while away. With all her responsibilities at the SGC, Hermione did not think she would run through the material as quickly as she had her Ancient Runes coursework but she was determined to try. Of course, helping to save the world took precedence but it was mostly SG-1 that got itself into troublesome situations, not SG-23, so she had decided to remain optimistic about her prospects.

"Getting stuck in already?" came a voice from the door. Hermione looked round and, much to her surprise, saw Sam Carter there. It was not uncommon for members of the 'Dead Languages' department, as Colonel O'Neill described it, to visit her lab, as she was one of the most talented experts in Ancient Languages in the SGC, but Hermione had never had cause to work with Sam and so they had not become close.

"Just doing triage," Hermione explained and Sam snorted in amusement.

"That's the first time I've heard it called that," the tall blonde grinned as she looked at the piles of paper on Hermione's desk. "But it's a good description."

Hermione grinned back, privately wondering about the reason for the visit from the Major, but too polite to ask.

"So, you're coming to meet the President with us tomorrow," said Sam sauntering into the room. "That's quite impressive for a rookie."

 _'Fishing expedition,'_ Hermione concluded, gesturing towards the spare chair as an invitation for Sam to sit. "I'm honoured, of course," she replied aloud, refusing to be drawn on the subject.

"And you have no idea why SG-1 and SG-23 have been summoned?" Sam probed, certain it had something to do with Hermione's mysterious background. Sam was extremely frustrated that after all this time, she had still not managed to uncover the secret.

"We've been off-world for the last month," Hermione reminded Sam.

"Oh-kay," Sam drawled, not believing for a moment that Hermione was ignorant of the reason for the following day's meeting. "Well, I'd better leave you to it then, if you want to finish your triage before morning."

Hermione shook her head as she watched Sam leave in frustration. _'Don't worry. If I'm right, all will be revealed tomorrow,'_ she thought in amusement, wondering just how logical, scientific-minded Sam would react to the revelation of magic.

Very early the next morning, SG-23 had gathered together at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, ready for their transport. As they waited for SG-1 and General Hammond to arrive, Colonel Paxton murmured quietly. "If this summons is about what I think it's about, with a bit of luck, we can come back the fast way."

As Arnie and Connor snickered, Hermione murmured, equally as quietly, "I presume you mean by portkey? I've never tried to floo or apparate that far."

The three men all nodded in response. "What's the furthest you've apparated?" asked Connor curiously.

"Devon to Hogsmeade. It's about 550, maybe 600 miles," Hermione replied. "I guess I could do Colorado Springs to Maryland in a few jumps but I'm nervous about doing a larger jump."

"Don't worry, we'd do it in a few jumps too," answered Connor. "Some of us in several jumps," he said, looking meaningfully at Arnie, who rolled his eyes in response.

"I don't have much experience apparating. I've never needed to apparate much because I usually use Air Force transport," Arnie explained and Hermione nodded in understanding.

"So, kids. We all ready to meet the President?" came Colonel O'Neill's voice behind them and SG-23 turned around to greet their colleagues. To their surprise, the SGC's Chief Medical Officer, Janet Fraiser, was also joining them. They all climbed into their transport and settled themselves down for the journey, Sam, Daniel and Hermione all immediately bringing out their laptops, much to Jack O'Neill's disgust. Colonel O'Neill was not unintelligent, but his interests lay in very specific areas and he had quite a short attention span when unable to pursue those interests.

"Here, sir," Sam finally said, handing him a Gameboy, which she had brought along for this very purpose. "There's some new games on it."

Once Jack was safely occupied, Daniel Jackson moved over beside Hermione. While Hermione had been in Britain for Ron's wedding, Daniel had returned. About a year previously he had been exposed to an extremely high dose of radiation and, on his death bed, had ascended. Ascension was a process used by the Ancients, which allowed beings to be able to separate from their physical bodies and to live eternally as pure energy in a superior plane, with a greater amount of knowledge and power. Ascension can be a mental, spiritual or evolutionary process—a direct result of obtaining a certain level of wisdom and knowledge. Against the protocols of the Ancients, Daniel had continued to interest himself in, and even interfere with, the goings-on on Earth, in particular those at the SGC. As a result of this, Daniel had been forcibly de-ascended and had rejoined the SGC, while Jonas had returned to his home planet to put the experience he had gained on SG-1 during Daniel's ascension to use by helping to defend his planet from the Goa'uld.

"Have you seen the writings SG-11 brought back from P3X-642?" he asked, referring to photographs and films of the walls of a temple that the other team had taken while on that planet. "There's something strange about them."

Hermione tried to switch her screen over to a different view but was not quick enough. "What's that?" Daniel asked. "Mathematical equations? I didn't know you were a mathematician," he commented.

 _'Daniel just had to say that at full volume, didn't he?'_ thought Hermione in resignation, as everyone looked over with interest. "I never planned a career in Ancient Languages," she explained. "I just kind of fell into it by accident. Now that I have my Doctorate, it's time to do something for fun."

"Fun? Math?" asked Jack deadpan.

"Yes, fun. Maths," Hermione confirmed with a grin.

"What are you working on?" asked Sam, wondering if it was anything to do with the SGC.

"I'm doing a distance degree under the auspices of Dr Delta Shannon," replied Hermione, raising an eyebrow to ask if Sam knew the name. When Sam nodded in response, Hermione continued. "I know that with my duties at the SGC, I won't have as much time to work on it as I did when I was studying Ancient Languages, but I intend to go all the way to Doctorate," she continued firmly.

"Hmm," was all Sam said and Hermione mentally rolled her eyes.

 _'SG-1's suspicion of me is getting tiring. I hope this meeting will resolve all that,'_ the witch thought. Switching over from her degree work to look at the writings Daniel had mentioned, Hermione privately wished for a time-turner, as she did not seem to have enough hours in the day to complete all that she had on her plate.

As Hermione looked through the writings, something caught her attention. Reading and rereading it to be sure, Hermione called out urgently. "Guys? Could you look at this, please?" Hermione's team had all studied Ancient Runes in their schooldays and were therefore reasonably proficient at reading and understanding runes, although not to the level of Hermione or Daniel. This, however, was not common knowledge in the SGC, as Alex, Connor and Arnie's backgrounds had been very carefully doctored to hide their magical backgrounds.

Ignoring the surprised looks from their colleagues, SG-23 came over to look at Hermione's laptop screen. Hermione said nothing, but merely pointed to the specific writings that were causing her to panic.

"Crap!" was all Connor said, as he read the runes and identified several references to magic. Fortunately, it would take a trained witch or wizard to understand those references, but nevertheless, this was not something that should be left for the Goa'uld to find.

Alex swung round to face Daniel. "Was there a recent Goa'uld presence on this planet? Where was it—P3X-642? We might have to go back and destroy that temple."

Daniel looked at Colonel Paxton wide-eyed. "What… but we can't do that! It's a really important discovery!" he stuttered.

"Colonel Paxton!" came General Hammond's voice. "Would you mind telling me just why you and Dr Granger feel it necessary to destroy this temple?"

Silence.

Colonel Paxton sighed. "With respect, sir. I believe that when my team was assigned to the SGC, you were informed that there might be things we would be unable to explain. Hopefully, during this meeting with the President we'll get permission to give you full disclosure. If not, then this temple will fall under that category of things we can't explain."

Another silence.

This order from the President was a sore point with General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill, who was the General's Second-in-Command. However, a Presidential order was a Presidential order and, no matter how reluctantly, they accepted it.

Sensing the tensions, Daniel, ever the diplomat, tried to change the subject. Unfortunately, it did not help. "I didn't know your team all know Ancient Languages," he said.

"Our background with Ancient Languages falls into that same classified category, I'm afraid," Alex said shortly.

With that, conversation faded, as the SGC members all either rested or got on with some work. When they eventually arrived at Camp David in Maryland, having had to change from the plane to helicopters for the last leg of the trip, Hermione practically kissed the ground in relief as she exited the helicopter. She had a fear of heights, so travelling in a machine that allowed her to see exactly how high up she was did not appeal to her, especially as she knew that magic tended to fry electronics. Of course, she knew that it was the actual performance of magic that was the problem—that or a heavy magical field, such as could be found in Hogwarts—and not simply the mere presence of magical people, but that did not make her any happier about travelling by helicopter.

When they were ushered into the President's presence, Hermione was relieved to see that Kingsley Shacklebolt and a man who she recognised as the American Minister for Magic, Apenimon Wolfe, were also present. The President came to greet his guests from the SGC and invited them to take a seat.

"Gentlemen," he said, looking at the two Ministers, "I would like you to meet General Hammond, Colonels O'Neill and Paxton, Majors Carter and Kelly, Lieutenant Brock, Drs Daniel Jackson and Hermione Granger, and Teal'c. These gentlemen are Ministers Apenimon Wolfe and Kingsley Shacklebolt."

The military contingent, apart from SG-23, looked puzzled at this introduction. Ministers for what? However, the President was still speaking, so they held their tongues and waited until he was finished.

"General Hammond, if your team would please tell the Ministers about the SGC—full disclosure—these gentlemen will do the same in turn."

"Mr President," began Colonel O'Neill, only to be interrupted by his Commander-in-Chief.

"Are you questioning my orders, Colonel?"

"No, sir," Jack replied with a sigh. "Carter, Daniel, you're up."

"Excuse me, Mr President?" said Hermione diffidently, to the displeasure of SG-1. They still did not entirely trust her and certainly did not feel it was the place of such a junior member of the SGC to interrupt the President. "It might be better for the Ministers to make their explanation first. There are aspects of the explanation concerning the SGC the Ministers may not understand, and if General Hammond, SG-1 and Dr Fraiser already know the Ministers' secret, then we," Hermione gestured to herself and her team-mates, "will be able to…"

"Interpret?" suggested Connor with a grin.

"Yes," Hermione grinned back. "Interpret more easily."

"Oh, I'm sure Dr Jackson can interpret if there are any language problems. He speaks twenty-six languages, you know," drawled O'Neill.

"Not that kind of interpret, Jack," said Alex. "Please," he added, gesturing towards the two Ministers, and Apenimon Wolfe immediately launched into an explanation of the existence of magic.

It was not long before the non-magicals in the SGC contingent were protesting fiercely the unlikelihood of this.

"Oh, really?" drawled Alex. "You deal with the impossible every day. Why is this so hard to believe?"

"Oh, come on, Colonel! Magic isn't real. It's just trickery," protested Major Carter dismissively.

With a grin, Alex withdrew his wand and levitated a wild-eyed Major Carter into the air. Connor transfigured the water jug on the table into a rabbit, which hopped around the table, and Arnie conjured a bunch of flowers to present to Sam when she had been returned gently to her seat.

"A rabbit?" Hermione smirked.

"My kids love them," Connor said as his team-mates laughed.

Hermione transfigured the rabbit back into a water jug and turned to the Ministers. "Kingsley, this had better remain restricted information. I want the same consideration as an Auror here," she warned and transformed herself into her Animagus cat.

Hermione leaped up onto the table and strolled along it for everyone to see before returning to her place and transforming back into the petite, bushy-haired witch.

"I didn't know you were an Animagus, Hermione," said Kingsley in astonishment, noting that her team was not surprised by this revelation.

"I learned during the war. I kept it secret because it was safer."

Kingsley nodded in understanding. "But after the war?"

"It took a while until the Death Eaters were all rounded up, so it still wasn't safe immediately after the war. Then we had that lovely conversation where you, Minerva and Bill told me about my lack of career opportunities in the wizarding world and that made me worry about what punishment would be levied on an unregistered, _Muggleborn_ Animagus, so I just continued to keep quiet. The restricted registry, Kings."

"Agreed," he said immediately. Animagi were obliged to register their Animagus forms. The registry was open and full details of another person's Animagus form could easily be found on the registration list by anyone who cared to look, therefore any Auror, Hitwizard or Unspeakable who became an Animagus was added to a restricted list; the basic fact that these people were Animagi appeared on the open list, but without any details of what their Animagus forms actually were—that information could only be found on the restricted registry and very few people had access to that.

"Since you're an employee of the United States Air Force, that justifies putting you on the restricted list here in the United States as well, Dr Granger," Apenimon Wolfe promised.

"Thank you, Minister," said Hermione gratefully. Privately, Hermione wondered if the American Minister's name indicated his Patronus or Animagus form. The American wizarding world did not have the same prejudices as the Muggle world, and the shamans from the indigenous populations of the Americas were highly regarded in the magical community, hence the fact that since the founding of the American Ministry of Magic, there had been more Native American Ministers for Magic than Ministers of any other ethnicity. From what Hermione understood, the totem animals of the Native Americans were closely related to their Animagus and Patronus forms, and this was often reflected in their names.

"What was that?" asked Janet Fraiser in shock.

"Some magicals have the ability to transform into animals. We can't turn into whatever animal we like, it's one animal per person, and magic and our own nature determine what the animal is; we don't get a choice in the matter. It's very difficult Transfiguration and not many choose to learn it," explained Hermione matter-of-factly. "I had good reason to undergo the transformation and was fortunate enough to know a couple of Animagi, as we're known, who were willing to help me."

Hermione judged that her cue and launched into an explanation of the recent wizarding war and the prejudice within the wizarding world, in particular in Britain. When she and Kingsley had finished their tale, which was quite harrowing to recall even though they only covered the basic facts, Kingsley then explained the problem with the Elder Wand.

"I was wondering if we could arrange for someone like Master Bra'tac to stun Harry with a Zat," said Hermione. "If Harry is unaware and doesn't agree to it in advance, hopefully, that will end his mastery of the super wand. As it's unlikely any magical would ever be able to find Master Bra'tac, that should end the problem altogether."

"Well, any magical other than us, that is," added Alex. "There are plenty of magicals in the Armed Forces but we're the only ones currently assigned to the SGC. A lot of important magic is based in Ancient Runes, or Ancient Languages as you call them. We all began learning Runes in high school. Kelly, Brock and I aren't as fluent in Runes as Drs Granger or Jackson, but we know more than the average airman. And that's why we were all assigned to the SGC—but more of that later. We should explain the SGC to the Ministers first, so that we can all talk freely."

The President nodded and Sam and Daniel immediately launched into their well-practised explanation of the Stargate and the SGC. Although Kingsley Shacklebolt knew more about the Muggle world than the average non-Muggleborn or non-Muggle raised witch or wizard in Britain, and although American magicals were quite well integrated into the Muggle world, as expected, there was much the two Ministers did not understand about the explanation and SG-23 had to help present the information in such a way that the magicals could comprehend.

Explanations over, the non-magicals all agreed to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements concerning the magical world, having had it made very clear to them that this was information that must not be disseminated to the SGC at large, and the magicals all swore oaths to keep the nature of the SGC a secret. Formalities out of the way, Alex Paxton explained why a magical team had been assigned to the SGC.

"There's ample evidence in the ancient Egyptian tombs of the presence of Ancient Egyptian wizards. What we don't know is to what extent the Goa'uld were aware of these wizards or if they know that there are still magicals around. It would be disastrous if a Goa'uld were to take a magical as a host. Imagine a System Lord with that kind of power at their disposal! We know the risk we're taking by going through the Gate, but our primary purpose is to ensure that all evidence of magic off-world is erased and any Goa'uld with magic is taken down. You'll need magicals to tackle a host that's also a witch or wizard.

"On our way here, Dr Granger was looking at some of the writings one of our other off-world teams had photographed on the walls of a temple on P3X-642. She believes, and we concur, that the writings are referencing magic and we request permission to destroy that temple at the earliest opportunity. It's too risky to leave that information for a Goa'uld to find."

"Permission granted," said the President immediately. "Now, if we could return to the main reason this meeting was called?"

"Yes, Mr President," replied Hermione. "The Elder Wand will continue to be a massive security risk if it isn't neutralised. By recruiting a non-magical off-world ally to defeat Harry, we effectively achieve that. Harry is currently the master of this wand because he defeated its previous master—simply owning the wand isn't enough, you have to win the wand—and it doesn't matter what wand you happen to be using at the time you're defeated. Harry wasn't even in possession of the Elder Wand when he became its master, nor is it in his possession now. The danger still exists, however, since the crucial factor in becoming Master of the Elder Wand is being defeated in some way."

Hermione frowned as an unpleasant thought occurred to her. "Wands have a certain degree of sentience with regard to their relationship with their owners, and this wand is powerful enough that it might actually respond to a summons from its master, even when said master isn't in its vicinty. That would mean the master of the wand wouldn't even need to know where the wand is in order to summon it to their hand, so it really is important that this be addressed sooner rather than later. If Master Bra'tac, for example, stuns Harry, we can release pictures that will show only Harry being defeated and not the person defeating him or the weapon they used, and the problem will be solved while still keeping the SGC a secret."

"Why can't Teal'c or I do it?" asked O'Neill.

"You could," said Hermione consideringly, "but it's safer if the person who ultimately defeats Harry is safely beyond the reach of any magicals, meaning someone who lives off-world and doesn't leave the SGC when they do come to visit."

"Beyond the reach of any magicals apart from yourselves," said Daniel pointedly.

"Apart from ourselves," agreed Hermione.

"We're all willing to swear oaths that we won't try to gain mastery over the Death Stick—unless we need it to deal with a magical who has been taken as host," commented Alex Paxton.

"The Elder Wand really is a massive security risk. There are plenty who would use it against the magical and non-magical worlds alike," said Kingsley persuasively.

"All right, we'll contact Master Bra'tac as soon as we return to the SGC. How long will it take Mr Potter to get here?" asked General Hammond.

"I can make him a portkey that will bring him straight to my home whenever Master Bra'tac arrives," said Hermione. "Kingsley, will you take it back with you and give it to him?"

"Of course," said Kingsley. "I must say, it's nice to know what you're doing, finally, Hermione. You know, Harry's a pretty good fighter too…"

"And how would we explain him to the rest of the SGC? He's not an expert in Runes—not yet—and he's not in the military."

"You said that these symbiotes are snake-like?" Kingsley clarified. "Have you considered that Harry's a Parselmouth?" After the war, it had been suspected that Harry's Parseltongue ability would be lost since he was no longer a Horcrux, however that ability remained, even after the destruction of the Horcrux within him. Harry had paid a visit to the reptile house at London Zoo to confirm this fact.

"Oh!" said Hermione in shock. "I hadn't thought about that."

"What's a Parselmouth?" asked the President with interest. Although he had been briefed on the wizarding world when he took office, this was new to him.

"A Parselmouth is someone who can speak to snakes. Parseltongue is the name of the language of the snakes. Parselmouths are not well thought of in Europe, but other countries, which have large snake populations, tend to be more tolerant of people with the ability to converse with them. It's a talent you're born with, not something you can learn," explained Apenimon.

"I wonder if Parseltongue being regarded as a Dark ability stems from the Goa'uld?" Hermione mused. "If symbiotes understand Parseltongue then we definitely need to get Harry on board—just as soon as we can come up with some kind of credible cover story for him, that is."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage that, Hermione. I haven't forgotten just who it was that lured Dolores Umbridge out to the Forbidden Forest to be captured by centaurs, all on the pretext of a fictional weapon," said Kingsley sardonically.

Hermione blushed. "That was mostly adrenaline speaking," she replied.

Kingsley laughed. "The brightest witch of her age, the perfect student, little miss goody-two-shoes; she surprised a lot of people with that stunt."

"Well, Umbridge had just spent a year torturing—quite literally!—a school full of children, all under the sanction of then Minister Fudge. She deserved that and more," said Hermione defiantly.

"She did indeed," agreed Kingsley. "That's why she's now in Azkaban for life."

Hermione hummed in agreement as she rooted around in her bag for something she could use as a portkey. Finally, she pulled an owl pendant off her key-ring and waved her wand over it. When it glowed, she gave the pendant to Kingsley.

"Password is Errol," she told Kingsley, who grinned in response. Errol had been the name of the very ancient, very clumsy, Weasley family post owl, until he had finally been retired after the war, to the great relief of everyone who had ever known the owl—and probably also to the relief of Errol himself!

"And what should I tell Harry when I give him this portkey?"

"Tell him I'll call and explain that I might have a solution to his problem, but I can't get the time off work right now to come to him, so he'll have to come to me once I know if it'll work or not. I happened to see you when you were here meeting the American Minister and took the opportunity to give you the portkey."

Kingsley nodded and pocketed the portkey. "I'll retrieve the Elder Wand so Harry can check if it still works for him afterwards," he commented.

"Either way, I suggest we try and find somewhere safe to keep it afterwards, possibly off-world," Hermione suggested, looking at her team who all nodded.

"Why don't you just give this super-wand three blasts with a Zat and get rid of it altogether?" asked Sam.

"Because we need a pictorial record to prove to the wizarding world that Harry is no longer the master of the dratted thing, and we can't provide pictures of it being evaporated by a Zat, since Zats are classified. Besides, we don't know what kind of explosion it might cause. I wouldn't want to risk losing half the continent," replied Hermione.

"What are the chances of that really happening?" asked Arnie consideringly.

"No idea," answered Hermione honestly. "When I spoke to Professor Dumbledore's portrait a few weeks ago, he seemed to think it quite likely. I was trying to run an Arithmantic calculation as to the likelihood on the way here but got sidetracked. I'll work on it on the way home—unless we're going to take a portkey?" she asked hopefully. While Hermione appreciated the perk of free air travel in Air Force transports, a portkey really was easier and quicker.

"We can't really justify it if there isn't a crisis happening," said Alex regretfully, an evil grin crossing his face as he tried to imagine how his colleagues would cope with the unusual method of travel. "It would be too difficult to explain why we didn't use Air Force transport to return, when it's known that's how we came here."

"What exactly are a portkey and Arithmantic calculations?" asked Sam curiously.

"And more importantly, how can you talk to a _portrait_?" interrupted Jack.

"Magical portraits contain the essence and memories of their subject, and activate after death. The portraits are animated and can communicate perfectly easily," Apenimon smiled.

"A portkey is a magical method of travelling instantaneously from one place to another. There are a number of magical methods of travel, most of them pretty much instant, but all have their pros and cons. A portkey is best for the kind of distance we're talking about," explained Arnie.

"Arithmancy is a magical discipline that studies the magical properties of numbers, including predicting the future with numbers and numerology. It's similar to probabilities, I suppose, but with the added magical element, it's quite a reliable means of predicting the outcomes of specific actions and events. It's not the same as Divination, which is trying to predict the future through crystal balls and other similar tools and rituals. I find Divination to be a very imprecise and woolly branch of magic," Hermione said with a sniff.

"Hermione's disdain for Divination is practically legendary," laughed Kingsley. "There are such things as true predictions from genuine Seers, but the predictions themselves tend to be rather ambiguous, and few Seers have control over their ability, which makes it quite difficult to rely on their predictions, since you don't know when they'll have a prediction, nor is it usually obvious to whom, what or when they're referring—predictions are open to interpretation. Hermione's right that there's a lot of guesswork involved in Divination. Arithmancy is far more reliable. Do you think your Arithmancy is up to this, Hermione? I know you did exceptionally well at school but you don't have a Mastery."

"Not yet, anyway," replied Hermione. She turned to the non-magicals and explained. "A wizarding Mastery is equivalent to a PhD. When I finished school—delayed because of the war—I was unable to find employment due to lingering prejudices against witches and wizards of non-magical descent. The goblins of Gringotts, the wizarding bank, were the only ones willing to employ me, despite my earning record-breaking exam results. I had studied Ancient Runes in school but didn't think of making a career in that area until this happened—the goblins use Runes a lot in their work. The goblins put me in touch with a wizard who has both a wizarding Mastery in Ancient Runes and a non-magical Doctorate in Ancient Languages. He teaches in a non-magical university but he's taken on students who have chosen to leave the wizarding world before—Ancient Runes and Arithmancy are the subjects that cross over to the non-magical world most readily. Under Dr Schuyler's auspices, I gained BAs in the Ancient Languages used by magicals, and followed that up straight away with non-wizarding Masteries and a Doctorate, plus a wizarding Mastery."

"She gained multiple Bachelors Degrees within only one year, her Masters Degree in Ancient Languages a year after that and her Doctorate only a year later," Kingsley pointed out. "She gained both her wizarding and her non-wizarding Masteries at the same time, which is unprecedented. It normally takes an apprentice several years to gain their Mastery—even assuming they ever make it past journeyman level. And this after having had her entire schooling frequently interrupted by war." Although the non-magicals did not completely understand what Kingsley was saying, Sam and Daniel were now looking at Hermione with a new-found respect for her academic abilities.

"Yes, but I had an advantage in that I'd been studying Runes intensively in school since I was thirteen years old," Hermione reminded him. "My knowledge when I began my undergraduate studies was much greater than that of the average undergraduate student. I've now begun a wizarding Mastery in Arithmancy with Mistress Delta Shannon and will be pursuing non-magical degrees in Maths concurrently. I won't get though the material quite as quickly this time, though. I was only a freelancer when I was employed by Gringotts, so I could choose which projects I wanted to take on. That meant I could leave plenty of time for my studies. I have a lot less free time now."

"Still, to achieve all that while working at the same time, and in such a short period, is truly remarkable," commented Apenimon.

Smiling at the American Minister in thanks, Hermione answered Kingsley's question. "My Arithmancy is going to have to be good enough for this calculation, since I can't ask Mistress Shannon—or anyone else—to help… unless any of you are expert Arithmancers?" she asked her team hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," replied Alex.

"It'll be good to have an Arithmancer on the team," said Arnie reflectively. "It ought to be able to predict possible outcomes, so it should help with mission planning."

General Hammond had been about to make a comment about them having plenty of Mathematicians on staff at the SGC already, but as Dr Granger would be doing this in her own time, at her own expense and not on the Air Force's dime, he refrained, especially when Lieutenant Brock had claimed this Arithmancy they were talking about would assist in mission planning.


	6. Chapter 6

Once they were all aboard the plane headed back to Colorado Springs, the various academics again pulled out their laptops and got down to work.

Arnie, who was SG-23's field medic, began discussing with Janet Fraiser the subject of magical healing. "Unfortunately, there's little we can do for non-magicals—partly due to the Statute of Secrecy, but mainly because most magical healing requires the patient to have a magical core. It's a shame because the majority of our healing is instantaneous, at least in comparison to non-magical healing. We can also do things that non-magical medicine can't come close to, like removing broken or shattered bones altogether and regrowing them in the space of a few hours. Equally so, not all non-magical medicine works on us. There's a magical Healer on the medical staff at Peterson—Dr Anthea Jason. I can arrange for you to get an overview of magical healing from her, if you like?" he was saying.

At the same time, Alex was discussing Occlumency with Teal'c and Connor was talking about magical duelling with Jack. Hermione, meanwhile, was holding two simultaneous conversations with Sam and Daniel, regarding Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, her face beaming with pleasure.

"You look particularly happy," Daniel eventually commented.

"I am. I hadn't realised just how much of a strain it was not to be fully honest with you. I haven't had a proper, no-holds-barred, intellectual debate like this for ages, because there was too much I couldn't say to you before," replied Hermione.

Sam was busy looking at some of Hermione's Arithmantic calculations on her computer, stunned by the complexity of them; even she, who was a genius, was having problems following these equations—although that could be because of her lack of familiarity with the magical aspects of the calculations, Sam privately admitted to herself. Seeing that Sam was engrossed, Daniel began to question Hermione on the runes that he had shown her on the plane ride to Colorado Springs, wanting to know what had sent up red flags to SG-23.

"I've seen some of those rune combinations before, on Gringotts excavations," Hermione explained, talking Daniel through them as best as she could. The problem was not that she found it hard to translate the runes themselves, but rather the need to explain the magical theories and concepts behind them.

The conversation had Hermione and Daniel engrossed throughout the journey back to Colorado Springs. In fact, talking to the four magicals and learning more about the wizarding world, kept all the non-magicals engrossed. They were stunned by the revelation of a complete, hidden society running alongside theirs. O'Neill was disappointed, however, when they refused to demonstrate anymore magic while they were on the plane.

"If we do magic here, it'll fry all the electronics," said Colonel Paxton firmly, and Jack subsided.

"Tell you what, Alex—why don't we take them to Kemp's when we touch down?" suggested Hermione mischievously. "I could do with a good magical workout."

Connor and Arnie both murmured agreement. They had not been able to duel magically during the month off-world and they were all feeling rusty.

"What's Kemp's?" asked Daniel warily.

"It's a magical gym. We use it to practice sparring magically. Most of the magicals in the military who are stationed in Colorado Springs use it," explained Connor.

At that, SG-1 all perked up. "We're in," said Jack with anticipation.

"What about you, General? Doc?" asked Arnie.

"I believe I'd like to see this magical sparring," General Hammond confirmed.

"I've a feeling that as CMO, I ought to know what magical injuries might look like," agreed Janet with a smile.

Arnie immediately phoned from the plane to book a duelling room and, when they arrived back in Colorado Springs in mid-afternoon, SG-23 instructed their colleagues to drive into town and told them where to park. "We'll meet you there," Connor said.

Arriving at the designated meeting place, O'Neill looked around eagerly. "So where is it?" he asked.

"What, did you expect to see a gingerbread house or a Disney castle or something like that?" asked Alex with a grin. "It's better hidden than that."

At that point Hermione took over, figuring that if she did not interrupt, Colonels Paxton and O'Neill could easily continue teasing each other indefinitely. Jack O'Neill's reputation for winding people up was well known at the SGC.

"You need a magical to show you the entrance to the magical district," she explained, leading them into a small and non-descript alley. "General, Doctor, if you could each hold onto me? The rest of you, grab onto one of the guys," she added with an impish grin.

As General Hammond and Doctor Fraiser held onto Hermione, they saw a very grand and ornate iron door appear out of nowhere in the middle of a previously blank stretch of wall. "Come on," said Hermione with a grin. She took out her wand and tapped it in a specific pattern against the embellishments decorating the door, which swung open, granting them entrance to the magical district.

"Cool," said Jack in approval.

As they made their way down the main magical thoroughfare, Hermione choked on laughter as she watched her colleagues looking around goggle-eyed. Although the magical district in Colorado Springs did not have the medieval antiquity of Diagon Alley in London, there was still a marked contrast to the modern city surrounding the hidden sector.

"Welcome to Wizards' Walk," said Hermione, as their non-magical guests gaped in wonder.

"They're with us," said Alex, as the proprietress of the gym raised an eyebrow when she saw them enter with a bunch of Muggles in tow. "It's all right; the Minister himself told them."

Diana Kemp looked surprised but accepted the explanation. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that the military personnel who used her gym were all honourable people and would not deceive her; if they said that the Minister of Magic had informed their guests of magic, then she could trust their word.

Leading the way into their reserved duelling room, Arnie conjured some benches, which he placed against the far wall.

"We'll erect shields to protect you from the spell-fire. You won't be able to come near until we take them down," he explained, as their guests sat down.

"Okay, what are the terms?" asked Hermione as she transfigured her clothing from a smart suit and heels to leggings, t-shirt and trainers.

"No Unforgivables, no dark magic, no causing any damage that can't be fixed," said Alex firmly. "Brock, you sit this out. Explain to our guests what they're seeing."

"Should not Dr Granger sit with us while Colonel Paxton, Major Kelly and Lieutenant Brock fight?" asked Teal'c diffidently.

"Yeah," said Jack. "No offence Granger, but I want to see soldiers fight."

The three men of SG-23 all immediately burst out laughing, much to the bemusement of their guests, while Hermione had a suspiciously innocent look on her face.

Alex swung around to their guests to explain. "Granger may be pint-sized but she's a very powerful witch—her magical core is remarkably strong. In addition to that, she's the only one of us who has fought in a magical war. Any of us can take her down in hand-to-hand, but she can beat us all easily in a magical duel. Our duelling is more formalised—sporting rules—because that's our experience. Granger is a fighter, though, and she treats every duel like it's a battle. A duel between us three is like a fencing match in a sporting competition. A duel with Granger is like a serious sword fight."

"Enough talk. Are we duelling or not?" asked Hermione, putting her hair into a bun with a flick of her wand, so it would be out of the way. "Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you big, tough men," she teased.

"We most certainly are duelling," Alex confirmed grimly. He had not managed to beat Hermione in a duel yet and doubted he would now, with Arnie Brock sitting out the duel. Alex was not looking forward to being humiliated in front of SG-1.

As instructed, Arnie went and sat among the spectators and erected a shield to protect them. Then the battle commenced. O'Neill had quietly scoffed when he heard Alex describe Hermione as a fighter. Although he had sparred with her himself a number of times and knew that her self-defence was improving rapidly under Teal'c's tutelage, he still saw her as a linguist and not as a fighter. Hermione soon proved him wrong. Although ignorant of the spellwork involved, it was soon very clear that Alex and Connor were struggling to hold their own against Hermione, even though they were two against one. It was a shock when Arnie confirmed that they would struggle even three to one. While O'Neill could tell neither how difficult the spells were to perform nor how dangerous they were, even he was impressed by Hermione's grace, speed and reflexes as she dodged and cast simultaneously. The non-magical guests also noticed that Hermione cast her spells non-verbally, while the others all needed to speak most of their spells aloud; nor were the men of SG-23 as proficient at wandless magic as Hermione, who had been working hard on that skill—it was clear that she was casting spells both with her wand and without. The men were good, but were simply not at Hermione's level; war was a harsh teacher, as all present knew. Hermione's wandless magic had always been more skilled than that of her team-mates—she was able to perform more difficult magic wandlessly than they—but she had not had the stamina of the men and so had been unable to sustain it for long, since wandless magic was far more draining than doing magic with a wand. However, Hermione's physical training schedule since joining the SGC had boosted her stamina substantially and it now showed when she duelled.

Arnie did his best to provide a commentary but the duel was too fast paced to go into much depth. "That's a stunner—failed. Body-Bind curse—ouch! Hope Kelly didn't break his nose when he fell over. Paxton cancelled it. Now a Bat-Bogey hex from Granger—not dangerous but very distracting. _Langlock_ —that's a tough one to beat if you're not good at non-verbal magic, it sticks your tongue to the roof of your mouth—cancelled by Kelly. Stinging hex—that's gotta hurt. _Furnunculus_ —that covers the victim in boils, makes it difficult to see when your face is swollen up. Painful, too. Nicely dodged by Granger. Another failed stunner. _Rictumsempra_ —the tickling charm—that'll make it hard to concentrate. _Immobulus_ —that immobilises living targets. _Incarcerous_ —didn't work. Ooh— _Glacius_ —he's iced the floor—combined with a Jelly-Legs—it's impossible to stand like that. Nice recovery from Granger! Now she's stepping it up. She's conjured a flock of birds and, knowing her, she's going to send them to attack—there they go! Kelly used an _Impedimenta_ Jinx to slow them down, and give himself a chance to banish them. A Flame-Whip—that's nasty. Ok, Paxton conjured a wall—it's one of the few ways to counter the Flame-Whip."

The duel continued for a quite long while, with the pace and ferocity of the spell-casting increasing—not to mention the nastiness of the jinxes and hexes being used. Connor, the joker of SG-23, went down first; Hermione disarmed him, sending him slamming across the room into a wall, the force of her blast knocking him out. Their guests all gasped in horror as they heard a bone snap.

"Not to worry," said Arnie airily. "We can fix that up in a jiffy."

Now that Major Kelly was out the duel, Hermione immediately increased the speed of her spell-casting, keeping Colonel Paxton very much on the defensive.

"Crap!" their guests heard Alex mutter, when he was suddenly strung up in the air by one ankle. "I hate it when she does this."

"Ready to quit?" called Hermione.

"No," growled Alex through gritted teeth, cancelling the _Levicorpus_ Hermione had used on him and simultaneously casting a cushioning charm to protect himself when he crashed down to the floor, as SG-1 all winced in sympathy when he hit the deck.

"Oh well," shrugged Hermione. While Alex was occupied getting himself out of the _Levicorpus_ , Hermione quietly disillusioned herself.

"Where'd she go?" asked O'Neill.

"Disillusionment. It's a chameleon spell. You take on the colours and textures of your surroundings," answered Arnie curtly as he tried to see where Hermione was. Her Disillusionment Charm was particularly skilled, making it very hard to find her.

By this time, it was obvious that Hermione was toying with Alex. The Colonel was spinning around, scanning the room as he tried to find his opponent. Hermione kept distracting him by making noises and moving on immediately. Each time, Alex quickly cast a spell in the direction of the noise, hoping he would be fast enough to catch his opponent but he was never quite quick enough. Finally, Hermione cast her Patronus, and directed the otter to swim around Alex, making it hard for him to focus on anything else, as it kept getting right up in his face. Arnie snorted in amusement as he watched his CO trying to peer through the silvery shape. Hermione, in the meantime, had sneaked around behind Alex and caught him with an _Incarcerous_ ; when she then disarmed him and caught his wand in her hand, the duel was over.

Hermione made a mock curtsey as SG-1 all applauded. Janet Fraiser was less impressed, however. "Let me through. I need to assess these men for injuries. General, this is completely unacceptable!" she ranted as she tried in vain to get through the protective shield that was still in place.

"They're fine," said Arnie, as he cancelled the shield.

"Major Kelly has broken bones!" Janet snapped.

Hermione was already casting a diagnostic charm, ignoring the irate doctor. "There's no concussion; just a broken wrist and a bloody nose, that's all," the witch said to Arnie as she brought Kelly round.

"That's _all_?" asked Janet incredulously.

"Yes, that's all," said Alex coming up to them. "Can you fix it, or do we need to take him to Healer Jason?" he asked Hermione and Arnie, referring to the Healer at Peterson Air Force Base that Arnie had mentioned to Janet earlier.

"I can do it," said Hermione easily. " _Episkey,_ " she incanted, speaking aloud for effect. Connor hissed in discomfort but was soon rotating his wrist as though it had never been broken, much to Janet's surprise. The nose was repaired just as easily.

Injuries tended to, Arnie pulled out vials of Pepper-up Potion and handed them to team-mates, with the instruction to "Drink it." The long duel had taken a lot out of them.

"What's that?" asked Janet warily as she saw steam coming out of Hermione's ears.

"It's like an energy medicine. It primarily cures the common cold, but can also be used to help our magical levels when we drain ourselves magically," explained Arnie. "Remember what we said earlier: magical healing is very different to non-magical healing."

"You have a cure for the _common cold?_ " asked Janet incredulously.

"Yes, but unfortunately it won't work on non-magicals," Hermione sighed. "Although it would be interesting to see if it would work on Major Carter."

Some years previously, Sam had temporarily been host to a Tok'ra symbiote called Jolinar. Unlike the Goa'uld, the Tok'ra use only volunteer hosts; in fact, the Tok'ra hosts are often people who are sick or injured, and are subsequently cured by their symbiote. Sam's father, Jacob, a retired Air Force General, was one of these; he had been dying of cancer when he had the opportunity to become a host and was cured by his symbiote, Selmak.

Jolinar had sacrificed herself to save Sam, allowing herself to die without taking her temporary host along with her, and this had caused the Major to undergo some physiological changes when she had absorbed the symbiote within her. Primarily, her blood had gained additional elements, one being an unusual protein marker from the symbiote and the other being traces of Naquadah—a rare, super-heavy mineral which is not found on Earth—and these elements had affected the Major's ability to use regular medicines, leaving only a very limited range of medications which could be prescribed to Sam. On the plus side, however, Sam could operate Goa'uld technology, which would not be possible without the protein marker. It would be interesting to see how Sam, with her unusual physiology, would react to magical potions. Hermione was also curious to see if a witch or wizard might be able to use their magical cores to power the Goa'uld technology; as it was not electronic, the magic should not damage it.

Arnie was nodding. "I've wondered that myself but, until now, couldn't do anything about it. We could run some tests."

Alex Paxton whistled. Loudly. When everyone looked at him in surprise, he said pointedly, "Before you get caught up in a theoretical debate, let's finish off here."

SG-23 flopped down on the floor and began an in-depth discussion and explanation of the duel their guests had just witnessed, complete with demonstrations of individual spells. SG-23 even brought out some duelling dummies and demonstrated some of the more violent spells that they had not used in their friendly duel, such as various blasting and cutting curses. They also explained, but did not demonstrate, some of the darker spells, like the Entrail-Expelling curse, the Blood-Boiling curse and the Unforgivables.

"And you would use these on a Goa'uld?" asked General Hammond, not sure whether to be disapproving or not.

"I wouldn't use the Unforgivables," said Hermione soberly. "Not even against a Gou'ald. You have to really mean those spells and there's a price to pay for using them. I've seen what happens to people who use them routinely. It's not worth damaging your soul like that. The other Dark curses we mentioned—they don't damage the soul, so I'd use them if I had to but I'd try to avoid it, if I can. I prefer to stick to the lighter fighting spells but I know that's not always possible. When it comes down to it, those spells aren't really any cleaner than shooting someone."

"Rather than using magic against the Goa'uld, I'd like to see what it would do to Replicators," drawled Connor. These were advanced robots capable of reproducing themselves indefinitely, consuming all available resources in an area to create more of themselves. The only weapons that the SGC had found at this time that were in any way effective against them were conventional firearms.

"Wouldn't they just absorb the energy to power themselves, like they do with the energy from Zats?" asked Sam dubiously.

"They might," agreed Hermione. "However, magic fries electronics, so it's possible it could fry the Replicators, too."

"In what way does magic fry them?" asked Sam with interest. Anything that could be used against Replicators was worth investigating.

"Wait here," said Hermione. Standing up, she twisted and popped way with an almost inaudible crack.

"What was that?" asked Daniel in shock.

"Apparation," said Connor. "It's a form of instantaneous travel from one place to another. It's like teleportation, but it's not easy to do and can be disastrous if it goes wrong. You need a licence, like a driving licence, and the distance it's possible to apparate usually depends on how powerful the witch or wizard is. It's also possible to take someone with us, side-along. It's very useful."

While Connor was explaining, Hermione popped back. In her hand was a discarded portable CD player, which she had retired in favour of a more compact MP3 player.

"Apparating with it ought to be enough to fry it but just to be sure…" Hermione muttered to herself as she cast a stunning spell at the gadget and thrust it at Sam. "Feel free to take it apart, and don't worry about getting it to work again," Hermione said. Sam nodded and pocketed the portable player to examine later.

As they left the gym and wandered back through Wizards' Walk, Arnie stopped in front of the Quidditch shop. "It's my son's birthday next week. He'll be four. I want to get him a training broom."

Hermione nodded. "I want to visit the magical creatures shop. I might be able to contact Harry by phone or by email, but I need an owl for everyone else. The only problem is what to do with it when we're on a mission."

"My wife and kids would be happy to take care of it for you," said Connor.

"Mine too," added both Arnie and Alex simultaneously.

"Thanks, guys," Hermione beamed.

"Training broom? Owl?" asked Jack in amusement. Quidditch and owl post were not things that the magicals had covered with SG-1 yet.

"One of the magical means of transportation is by broom. We also have a sport, called Quidditch, which is played on brooms. It's like a very fast-paced version of basketball, played up in the air," Alex explained. "Think of it as playing basketball while on a flying motorbike."

"Sweet!" said Jack enthusiastically.

"Dangerous," said Hermione. "I can't count the number of accidents Harry had playing Quidditch and he's a damn good player; he's also one of the most natural flyers you'll ever meet."

"Hermione hates flying," smirked Connor.

"Why trust a piece of wood and twigs when I can apparate?" she shrugged. "Wizards also use trained owls to deliver post. Magical animals are extremely intelligent. I hadn't got around to buying an owl yet—I've been putting it off because of the problems of explaining why I have a pet owl if Major Carter should happen to drop by to try and find out more about my background," Hermione grinned, as Sam smiled back at her in rueful acknowledgement. "Now that the secret's out to a certain extent, I can get one. I really need an owl to stay in touch with my friends."

"What happens when we're on a mission? Don't your friends worry when an owl can't find you?" asked Arnie with interest. "Magical messenger birds are supposed to be able to find anyone, anywhere."

"I always email or text Harry before we leave, telling him approximately how long I'll be gone for. My friends all know that there are times when I'll be incommunicado—I've explained that during those times, I spell myself so messenger birds can't find me—and if their owl ever returns with an unopened letter, they know to check with Harry to see if I can be contacted," Hermione explained.

"Good enough," Alex shrugged. "Shall I escort you back out to the Muggle world, or would you like to browse a bit while Granger and Brock do their errands?" he asked their guests.

"I'd like to learn more about this sport played on brooms," said Jack with excitement. Teal'c was not one to speak much but they could all see the gleam of interest in his eyes, too.

"I also need to go to the apothecary and I want to visit the bookshop," answered Hermione. "I imagine Dr Fraiser might like to see the apothecary, and I'm sure Major Carter and Daniel would also like to visit the bookshop?" she asked and they all nodded in agreement, although Sam looked torn between the bookshop and the brooms; Major Carter was a keen motorbike enthusiast and comparing the broomsticks to motorbikes had sparked her interest.

"All right. Brock, take O'Neill and Teal'c with you to the Quidditch shop. Carter, Doc, Dr Jackson, you're in good hands with Granger. General, this way, sir." Alex and Connor departed with General Hammond in tow and left the others in the capable hands of their team-mates. Those remaining behind split up into two groups, with Arnie, Jack and Teal'c heading in one direction, and Hermione, Janet, Sam and Daniel heading in another.

Hermione went first to the apothecary, since that was nearest. She explained a little bit about potions and potions-making—Hermione liked brewing her own potions but did not always have time to do so—and Janet was quietly horrified at some of the ingredients involved. However, the doctor wisely decided not to say anything until she could talk to the doctor and magical Healer at Peterson Air Force Base.

"What are you buying?" Janet asked instead, with interest. "Might these interfere with the medicines you receive at the SGC?"

Hermione looked embarrassed. "Depending what you prescribe, I tend to vanish the medication without you realising and use magical alternatives instead. We all do. Most of the standard medicine isn't very effective on magicals, you see. I'm buying a contraceptive potion." All women on off-world teams were obliged to take a contraceptive, even if they were not sexually active, in case they were ever captured and raped.

"How effective is it?" asked Janet.

"It lasts six months, and it's one hundred percent reliable," answered Hermione.

Janet looked impressed. "I wonder if that could be adapted for non-magical use?" she wondered.

"I'm not an expert in Potions," replied Hermione. "I can brew them well enough but I don't have the instinctive understanding of potions needed to adapt them or to create new ones. I only personally know one Potions Mistress with that skill, but she lives in the UK, so I suggest you ask Healer Jason if she knows of any Potions Masters here in the States who might be able to help with that; otherwise if Healer Jason can't help, I suppose I could try asking Andromeda for a recommendation."

From the apothecary, Hermione led the way to the bookshop. "I need a couple of Arithmancy texts," she explained. "If there are any books you're interested in, let me know. We have a different currency, so I'll pay for you and you can pay me back. It'll be cheaper than exchanging money at the wizarding bank. Just remember that whatever you buy has to remain hidden from anyone non-magical. That includes Cassie, Doc," said Hermione, referring to Janet's daughter. Cassie was an orphan from a world called Hanka, who had been adopted by Janet after the SGC had found her; she was the lone survivor on her world of a biological attack from a Goa'uld called Nirrti. Cassie knew more about the SGC than any other family member of the SGC personnel, but even she did not know everything.

Hermione quickly located the texts she needed but the others were fascinated and spent so long browsing, Hermione was beginning to get worried the pet shop would close before she could get there. Quietly informing her guests that she would be happy to bring them back another time, she headed to the till to pay for all their purchases. Unsurprisingly, Janet had selected a couple of books on healing and potions. Daniel would have eagerly bought out the entire section on Ancient Runes, but restricted himself to only four texts after Hermione mentioned that she owned most of the books he had been looking at and would gladly lend them to him. Sam, surprisingly, had nothing.

"You want some books about the effect of magic on electronics, don't you? I don't think anything's been written on that—at least, not that I've ever seen, and believe me, I would have seen it if it existed—but I can lend you a couple of other volumes that you might find useful," Hermione suggested and Sam nodded with a smile. Since the revelation of magic a few hours previously, and Sam's acceptance of it, the blonde Major's suspicions regarding Hermione seemed to have faded and Hermione hoped that she might now be able to form a friendship with these two women, both of whom she admired.

Finally reaching the magical creatures shop, Hermione headed towards the proprietor. "I'd like to buy an owl. Are there any breeds which are better for international post, or any individual owls which have better training than any others? My mail will mostly be going to the UK."

"How can an owl cross an ocean?" asked Daniel in amazement.

"Magic!" answered the shop owner, and Hermione laughed.

"One thing I've learned is that logic and magic just don't go together. Just leave it at that—it's easier than trying to make sense of magic. I've been trying to do that for years and haven't managed yet. Even I had to give up eventually. Just accept that magical creatures can do incredible things," she advised, her brown eyes twinkling with amusement at their frustration.

Hermione turned back to the shopkeeper, who told her, "All the owls can deliver internationally, but if you're looking for a really strong owl, these ones over here would be the best." The shopkeeper pointed to the larger owls in the biggest cages. Hermione walked over to them and smiled at a Great Grey owl who was fluttering her wings at the petite witch. Unable to resist the owl's flirting, Hermione poked a finger through the bars of the cage and gently stroked the owl's head.

"Hello there, gorgeous," she said softly as the owl rubbed her head under Hermione's finger, like a cat enjoying being stroked.

"It seems she's chosen you," said the shopkeeper coming up to them.

"Yes," laughed Hermione. "I don't choose you; you choose me. Isn't that right?" she cooed at the owl, who hooted in approval. Turning back to the shopkeeper, Hermione said, "I'll need supplies for her. Owl treats, a perch—actually, better make that two perches," Hermione added, remembering that when she was off-world, someone else would need to care for the owl. It would be easier to leave one perch at home and have a spare one to take to her team-mates' homes when need be.

"What's her name?" asked Daniel.

"That's for Miss Granger and the owl to decide," answered the shopkeeper.

Daniel looked at Hermione incredulously, but she just smiled and continued talking to the owl. " _Strix nebulosa_. Well, _nebulosa_ is derived from _nebulosus_ , meaning misty. What do you think of the name Misty? No? Something more dignified, perhaps? Yes?"

Daniel, Sam and Janet were looking on in astonishment as the owl hooted and shrieked in response to Hermione's questions, as though she really did understand what the witch was asking.

"What about Aria?" suggested Hermione. "The literal translation is air, but it also means song or melody, both of which are used to represent the element of air. Do you like that?" Hermione had been going to suggest Zephyr, having absorbed the wizarding world's preference for mythological names, but because the Gou'ald always used the names of ancient gods, she did not think that name would go down too well with her colleagues. Fortunately, the owl seemed to like Hermione's second suggestion, as she hooted in approval and nipped Hermione's finger fondly. "Aria it is," Hermione agreed.

Hermione went to complete the transaction and Daniel followed along, saying, "We'll help you carry all your packages."

"No need. Everything will fit in here," replied Hermione, shrinking both perches with a tap of her wand and pulling out a small, beaded bag from her pocket.

Eyebrows rose but, by now, the non-magicals had learned not to question any unlikely statements from the magicals. Once she had paid with some fat gold coins, Hermione easily slipped everything into her beaded bag. "Featherlight and undetectable Extension charms," the witch explained. "Think of Mary Poppins' carpet bag."

As they were about to leave Wizards' Walk, Hermione looked down at her owl in the carry cage. "Hmm, walking through metropolitan Colorado Springs with an owl in a cage isn't exactly discreet. Why don't I let you out to make your own way home?" she asked Aria, who hooted in approval.

"Won't she just fly away?" asked Janet.

"No, she'll find me," answered Hermione blithely.

When they returned to their cars, Hermione invited Janet, Sam and Daniel to come home with her for a non-team team night. "We can get takeaway, or I can cook. You can see which books you'd like to borrow," she said, and they gladly agreed—Cassie had a sleepover with a friend that night, so it was not a problem for Janet to return home late. Hermione's guests were very surprised when, only a few minutes after they all arrived in her home, there was a tapping sound on the window and Hermione opened it to let Aria in; when Hermione had set the owl free to fly home, her colleagues had not expected to see Aria again. They were further surprised when Hermione went through her home waving her wand and some of the pictures started moving, while the covers of many of the books revealed completely different titles from those they had previously shown.

"I have wards that make the magical aspects of my home appear normal," she said. "I've added you to the wards, so you can see things as they really are."

The four colleagues spent a very pleasant evening together. Hermione decided to cook, setting knives to chop vegetables and spoons to stir sauces magically, much to her guests' amazement. With a flick of her wand, the dirty dishes also washed themselves. Hermione actually preferred to cook and wash dishes the Muggle way, finding it relaxing and thinking that using magic for everything was lazy. However, as she explained to her stunned guests, she wanted them to see that magic was about so much more than just fighting. The conversation was congenial and the atmosphere was very relaxed now that there were no secrets between them, and Hermione could see that there was now a chance she could actually form a friendship with Sam. Hermione had hoped for this all along, because they had much in common.


	7. Chapter 7

The following morning, Hermione called Harry before she left for work. "Hey, Harry. How's it going?"

"Hermione! I'm so glad you called. Kingsley brought round the portkey for me—nice password, by the way! He said you'd tell me more about it?"

"What did Kingsley tell you?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Nothing, really. He just said it was from you and I should speak to you before I use the portkey."

"I'm working on a solution to your problem. There are still a few elements that need to fall into place. When that happens, I'll let you know. You'll need to come here as soon as you get my call, which is what the portkey is for. Oh, and you ought to make sure you have a valid passport before you come, just in case you need it while you're here. Ask Kingsley if that can be fast-tracked through the Ministry, because you should aim to get it as quickly as possible—the Muggle way can take a while, depending on the current backlog."

After chatting to Harry for a while longer, Hermione drove to work, quietly wishing she could just apparate. Unfortunately, that was not possible as the guards would know she had not checked through the security points. Once there, she descended to the lower levels of Cheyenne Mountain, where the SGC was housed, and got stuck into her work.

Later that day, Alex strolled into Hermione's lab. "We're scheduled to go and destroy that temple tomorrow," he said. "It's going to be a joint mission with us and SG-1."

Hermione sat back. "Why? It's not like it will take two teams to do that. From what I understand, the temple is only about an hour away from the Stargate. We should be able to get there and back in half a day at most."

"I know, but General Hammond thinks it would be a good idea for us to work together once or twice. Let the teams get a feel for each other."

The following day, both teams were waiting in the gateroom while the gate on planet P3X-642 was dialled up. Once all the Chevrons—the dialling coordinates—had been locked in place, a stable wormhole formed and General Hammond gave them permission to proceed. The eight colleagues entered the wormhole and seconds later exited it on the planet their computer system had designated P3X-642.

"I don't suppose you could apparate us there, could you?" asked Daniel eagerly. He was keen to experience this form of travel.

"This is a three-hour mission—one hour to walk to the temple, one hour to have a last look round and blow it up, one hour to return. How would you explain us returning in only an hour?" asked Alex in amusement.

"We could spend more time looking round the temple before we blow it up!" Daniel replied, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.

"Ah, ah, ah!" said O'Neill warningly. "SG-11 has already explored it thoroughly and brought back plenty of photos and film."

"Tell you what, Dr Jackson," said Alex. "If when we get there, you or Granger discover anything new and need some more time to explore the temple, we can stay a little bit longer and then apparate back so we won't return late."

That compromise satisfied everyone and they set off towards the temple in good spirits. Once there, Hermione took the opportunity while the military members of the expedition were setting charges to do a magical scan for anything hidden behind Muggle repelling or Notice-Me-Not wards. Not surprisingly, she did indeed find a hidden chamber.

"Guys," she called. "Come and see this."

"Interesting," said Connor when he saw the wards light up like a Christmas tree.

"What?" asked Daniel in bemusement, not seeing anything.

"You're our resident curse-breaker," said Alex, ignoring SG-1 for the moment. "Have at it."

"I could do with a partner if we want to get this done quickly," replied Hermione.

"Kelly," said Colonel Paxton. "You're up."

Connor and Hermione immediately began painstakingly breaking down the wards while Alex explained what was happening and Arnie kept an eye on Daniel—Dr Jackson had a habit of getting so engrossed in his explorations that he was known to be oblivious to his surroundings, and even to wander outside their security perimeter without telling anyone, an absent-minded habit which was potentially dangerous. While Hermione, Major Kelly and Daniel were busy, Jack and Sam, the munitions experts, continued setting the charges, and Teal'c stood watch.

It did not take long to break through the wards with a concentrated effort from Sam and Connor, and occasional assistance from Alex. A new room opened up and the magicals entered cautiously, watched by an open-mouthed Daniel, who was finally beginning to understand the value of having magicals assigned to the SGC. Daniel eagerly tried to follow, but Arnie barred the entry.

"The ancient Egyptian wizards used some very nasty curses. Let us clear the way first," Lieutenant Brock told Daniel firmly.

The magicals all withdrew their wands and cast _Lumos_. As they looked round the room, they were surprised to see it was completely empty, with no writings on the walls.

"There has to be something here," said Hermione firmly. "It wouldn't have been warded so tightly for nothing."

Carefully casting diagnostic and detection charms, Hermione finally found a hidden panel in a corner, just above the floor. "Clever," she said. "People don't usually look down, and if they do, they look at the floor, not the bottom of a wall." Examining the wards on the hidden panel more closely, she sighed. "Blood wards. Any of you three a Pureblood? I can't tell if it needs to be a donation from a Pureblood but it's best not to take any chances; we don't have much time to experiment."

Alex cautiously came forward and squatted down beside Hermione. "What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"Cut yourself and smear some blood on this stone here," the witch explained, pointing.

Alex did as instructed and watched as the stone faded out of view. Peering inside the small nook, Hermione saw an ancient grimoire.

"We need to get it out of there without breaking the stasis spell on it, otherwise it might just crumble into dust," she said. Pulling out her beaded bag from a pocket, Hermione dived in and rummaged around inside the bag, her arm disappearing up to her shoulder, to the amusement of her companions. "Accio stasis box," she sighed, giving up on finding the item she needed any other way. Catching the box when it flew out towards her, Hermione started issuing instructions. "Alex, cast a shield around the grimoire—that should hold the stasis charm in place. I'm going to levitate the book out and into this box, and you need to keep the shield up until the book is safely inside."

Alex nodded in understanding and they began to work together. He could easily cast a _Protego_ but it would be harder to keep it up around the book once Hermione started moving it. To help, Connor cast a _Protego Totalum_ around the entire area as an additional precaution. Hermione nodded in acknowledgement and cast a verbal _Wingardium Leviosa_ , figuring it would be easier for her and Alex to work in tandem if they were both casting aloud. Hermione moved the book painstakingly slowly so that Alex would be able to maintain his shield. In the meantime, Arnie and Connor were busy doing a final sweep around the chamber they were in, to make sure there were no further hidden surprises.

Just as Hermione had the grimoire hovering over the box and was preparing to lower it gently inside, Jack O'Neill's voice came over the radio. "We've got company. Two Tel'taks. We need to blow this temple up and get the hell out of here." A Tel'tak was a Goa'uld scout ship and they all knew this meant trouble.

Her face beading with sweat, Hermione carefully lowered the book into the box. Letting go of the levitation spell, she slammed the lid shut and activated the final runes needed to seal the box tightly. That done, she thrust the box into her beaded bag, which she tucked safely into her pocket as she ran out of the temple with her companions. The moment they were all clear, Jack set off the charges and the temple exploded.

"Crap!" Hermione heard and swung round to see what was wrong. To her dismay, transportation rings were forming nearby. These were clearly transporting Jaffa warriors to the surface and the SG teams did not want to hang around to find out just which System Lord had come to visit.

"They're between us and the Gate. There's no cover for us to hide in. We'll never make it!" cried Sam in dismay.

Hermione did not hesitate. She pounced towards the closest member of SG-1, grabbed hold of them, twisted and apparated back to the Stargate. The remaining members of SG-23 followed suit and within moments, all eight members of the expedition were safely at the Stargate. Apparition is very disconcerting to those who are unused to it, and side-along apparition is even worse. The members of SG-1 were all bent over trying to keep their stomachs under control as they fought nausea.

"No time for that!" snapped Alex.

Arnie had darted to the DHD, or Dial Home Device, that operated the Stargate and was already dialling Earth. As soon as the wormhole was established, he sent through their IDC. A moment later, they heard General Hammond's voice.

"We've got company, General!" yelled Jack through his radio, not even waiting to hear what the General had to say. "Open the iris!"

A few tense seconds later, as they all saw more Goa'uld vessels appearing in the sky above them, these with top weapons capability, they finally received permission to return home. Racing through the wormhole as the vessels opened fire upon them, they came running through the event horizon into the SGC's gateroom.

"Close the iris!" yelled Jack as he emerged from the wormhole. Because he had been in charge of this mission, Jack had been the last to enter the Stargate, wanting to make sure everyone else got through safely first. The staff in the command centre immediately hit the command to close the iris and the weapons fire that had followed the two SG teams through the Gate abruptly ceased. The wormhole disconnected and the two SG teams turned round to face the control room, relieved that they had all made it home in one piece.

"So… we're back," said O'Neill nonchalantly, and the two teams all smirked in unison as they watched General Hammond roll his eyes at the antics of his Second in Command.

The teams underwent their mandatory health checks, which were to be sure that none of them had been taken over by a symbiote and so that the medical staff could monitor their blood in case they picked up any off-world infections. Medicals over, they hit the showers. Once in the locker rooms, which were about the only part of the SGC that did not have security cameras, Hermione cast a _Muffliato_ and they had a quick confab.

"We can't leave the book in the SGC, it's a magical grimoire," said Hermione.

"You can't take it home either, we found it off-world," said Alex.

"When was the conference room last swept for NID bugs? Can we even tell Hammond about it while we're in the SGC?" asked Arnie.

"Can't you use this spell to fool any bugs?" asked Daniel.

"It would also cause interference in the security cameras; a security team will come rushing down to see what's wrong," replied Connor, shaking his head.

"I'll take care of telling Hammond," said Jack, who was the only member of the SGC to be on social terms with the General away from work. The others all nodded, understanding that Jack would pay a visit to Hammond to explain, making sure they were not in a position to be overheard.

"But what do we do with the book?" asked Sam.

"Put it in a high-security vault in Gringotts Wizarding Bank," said Hermione firmly. Despite her having robbed the bank during the wizarding war, the goblins had made peace with Hermione during the years she was working for them. If she asked for a high-security vault, they would allocate one to her, no questions asked. "You guys will need to come with me so that you can also have access," she said, looking at her team. "I'm sorry, Daniel, but you won't be able to gain access. I'll read the book as quickly as I can and make sure to let you know about anything important."

Calling the meeting to a close, they finally got into the showers and, once dressed, went to meet General Hammond for their debriefing. "Report," barked the General as he entered the conference room from his office.

"We came, we blew up, we left," drawled O'Neill nonchalantly.

"Jack," said the General long-sufferingly.

"We arrived at the temple with no problems. Carter and I set the charges while SG-23 did a last sweep of the temple, to be sure nothing had been overlooked. After we blew up the temple we returned to the Stargate. The Goa'uld appeared just as we were leaving and we didn't hang about to find out exactly which System Lord had turned up," Jack said.

"That's it?" asked the General, who had a very good in-built bullshit detector, especially with regard to SG-1, and was fairly sure they were hiding something. "Dismissed," he sighed, when everyone nodded.

After checking out that day, SG-23 and Daniel, who had asked to accompany them, purely out of curiosity, as he was always keen to learn as much as possible about new cultures, went straight to Wizards' Walk, to pay a visit to Gringotts.

ᴳᴳGreetings, noble Goblin,ᴳᴳ said Hermione to the first available teller, greeting him in his own language. ᴳᴳI would like to lease a high-security vault, with entry being restricted to myself and three of my companions, although we will all go down to the vault this first time.ᴳᴳ

ᴳᴳAnd your name?ᴳᴳ asked the goblin.

ᴳᴳHermione Granger. And my companions who are to be allowed access are Alexander Paxton, Connor Kelly and Arnold Brock,ᴳᴳ Hermione replied impassively. Her treatment in the bank tended to depend on the individual teller: some were mortally offended that she had robbed their bank, while others accepted the lead of the main branch in London and chose to put it aside. She waited to see what this teller's reaction to her request would be.

ᴳᴳFollow me,ᴳᴳ said the teller, leading them to an office, where a pile of forms were thrust at Hermione and her companions to fill in and sign. Daniel looked on wide-eyed as they all used quills without batting an eyelid.

Ten minutes later, the forms were complete and they were being led to the carts. Climbing in, Connor warned Daniel to "Hold on!" with a grin.

Daniel raised an eyebrow and Hermione took pity on him. "Think rollercoaster, and the carts only have one speed," she said. Daniel still looked confused but this did not last long and understanding came to him as soon as the goblin accompanying them tapped the cart and it started moving. Several hair-raising minutes later, the cart was pulling up to a stop and they all clambered out, some looking greener than others. The goblin led the group along a corridor to the door of a vault far down in the lower levels of the bank.

"I assure you that even you will not be able to rob this vault, Miss Granger," smirked the goblin, speaking in English for effect.

Alex, Connor and Arnie just shrugged off the comment, while Daniel's eyebrows could not go any higher. The shocks had been coming fast and thick for the members of SG-1 over the past few days.

"I have every confidence in the goblins of Gringotts," Hermione replied neutrally, also in English.

Disappointed not to have got a rise out of Hermione, the goblin rubbed a finger against the door, and Hermione stepped forward to tap the vault door with her wand. The door swung open and Hermione entered. Pulling out her beaded bag from her pocket, Hermione extracted the stasis box and placed it on the floor. Turning to walk out, she addressed the goblin.

"I have an ancient tome in stasis in that box. I'll be returning to read it and will need to cast preservation and air purification spells before I can withdraw it from the stasis box. I'll need permission to perform magic within the vault," she informed the goblin, speaking in English so that her companions would understand.

"As long as any magic performed is only within your vault, that will be fine," the goblin assured her and Hermione nodded in acknowledgement.

When they were back on the main bank floor, Hermione thanked the goblin for his time. ᴳᴳMay your riches increase and your enemies decrease,ᴳᴳ she intoned ritually and they left the bank.

Hermione's team-mates all went off home and Hermione took Daniel for a drink, seeing that he had questions. Knowing that Daniel was something of a lightweight, she bought him a Butterbeer, teasing him that, "Even you shouldn't be able to get drunk on this."

"Ask," Hermione said when they were both sitting sipping their drinks.

"You robbed a bank?" asked Daniel incredulously.

"I didn't rob just any bank, Harry, Ron and I robbed Gringotts," said Hermione with a laugh. "Trust me, you don't get any more secure than a bank run by goblins. It was during the war, and it was necessary. The only reason we succeeded was because we had inside help. Then we liberated one of their security dragons and smashed our way out—quite literally—on the dragon's back."

"Err… dragons?"

"Enormous, giant-sized, dangerous, fire-breathing, flying lizards, just like in mythology," said Hermione helpfully. "There are a lot of mythological creatures that do actually exist in the magical world. Merpeople, dragons, unicorns, phoenixes, winged horses, hippogriffs, gryphons, and many others. I'll see if I can arrange for you to see some of them sometime," she added, seeing the look of longing on Daniel's face.

"What was that language you were speaking in the bank?" Daniel asked curiously.

"That was the goblins' language, somewhat offensively referred to as Gobbledygook by wizards," Hermione explained.

"Well, what do the goblins call it?"

Hermione replied in the goblin tongue, and then explained. "The goblins don't have a name for their language in English. Very few witches and wizards bother learning the goblin tongue—mostly those who liaise with them for the various Ministries, or those who work for Gringotts—and so never learn the correct name for the language.

"Could you teach me the language?" asked the consummate linguist.

Hermione winced. "I was afraid you were going to ask that," she said to Daniel with a laugh. "Do you mind asking Major Kelly? I believe he speaks it, and he has more time than I do." This was true. The scientists attached to off-world teams had both their mission duties and their duties in the labs to take care of, not to mention on-going fitness and defensive training. Hermione had a large backlog of translation work waiting for her. The solely military members of the teams did not have the lab duties to concern themselves with, and so did actually have more free time between missions than people like Sam, Daniel and Hermione. And this was before Hermione added on her studies—sometimes she wished she still had the time-turner she had been allowed to use when in school.

Hermione spent as much time as she could in the vault over the next couple of weeks, as she read the grimoire and copied anything interesting or useful. It was not until Hermione reached the end of the tome that she came across anything truly significant and what she read there had her dancing in glee. The excited witch carefully placed the grimoire back in the stasis box and dashed out of the vault. Summoning a goblin to escort her back to the surface, for once Hermione was glad of the breakneck speed of the carts.

Taking leave of her escort and exiting the bank as quickly as she could without causing comment, Hermione shot off Patronus messages to her team, telling them to meet her at Kemp's immediately. This had become their team meeting place whenever they had something important to discuss that they did not want to talk about inside the SGC. While she waited for her team-mates to arrive Hermione booked their usual duelling room and ran up the stairs to let herself into the room, where she reread the page from the grimoire that she had copied with the _Gemino_ Doubling Charm. Fortunately, it was only moments before her anxious team-mates arrived.

"What's wrong?"  
"Are you all right?"  
"Has something happened?"

Alex, Connor and Kelly all asked, talking over one another in their panic. Hermione had been very excited when she sent out her message and had not realised how her urgent Patronus might sound to her team-mates.

"I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to panic you. It's just I found something really important in that grimoire. Look!" Hermione thrust the copied page at her team-mates, who all clustered around to read it. While she waited impatiently for the men to finish reading, the petite witch was practically bouncing up and down in her enthusiasm—much like Dobby the excitable house elf who had died during the war—her bushy hair sparking from her excitement.

"Merlin!"  
"Holy cow!"  
"Hot damn!"

"We're immune to Goa'uld symbiotes?" Arnie whispered in awe.

Hermione nodded her head enthusiastically. "We're completely incompatible with them. Our magic will reject the intrusion, immediately ejecting the symbiote from our bodies. Depending on how magically strong we are, our magic may even kill it; certainly the expulsion will cause it enough pain that it won't be functional immediately afterwards, which would give us a good chance to try and catch or kill it."

"What if the symbiote senses it's dying? It's liable to take us along with it," frowned Connor in concern as he considered the issue.

Hermione shook her head. "No. Apparently, whatever happens will happen instantly. There won't be time for a symbiote to react. The only downside is that, according to the Grimoire, the Goa'uld used to kill any magicals they came across. The Goa'uld couldn't control magicals—apart from those who willingly chose to follow them in the interests of gaining power—so they disposed of us instead. That's why the grimoire was so well hidden."

"Goa'uld trying to kill us… that's new," said Arnie sarcastically and Hermione grinned in appreciation.

"I think we need to recruit more magicals to the SGC," said Alex pensively.

"Kingsley did mention getting Harry on board," commented Hermione.

"Do you have any ideas for a cover story for him?" asked Connor.

"Not really," sighed Hermione. "He has his Auror training, of course—and did very well indeed in that training. He never took his NEWTs, though. He accepted the offer for anyone who had fought in the Final Battle to be awarded honorary NEWTs. Now that everyone's gone tits-up for him with the Auror Office, he's gone back to finish his education—up to a point, anyway. He's only taking NEWTs in Defence, Charms and Transfiguration—I think he's hoping to be taken on as Defence Professor at Hogwarts, so he's doing his Defence NEWT to prove that he has as good a grasp on the theory as he does on the practical. He's also started learning Ancient Runes—he didn't take that subject at OWL level—because I suggested he might make a good curse-breaker, and he needs Runes for that. He just doesn't have the type of specialised knowledge or abilities that would justify his employment without having a military background. Not one that we can share with the SGC at large, anyway."

"We can probably arrange an accelerated boot camp for Potter," Alex pondered. "Then we can bring him on board as some kind of hush-hush Special Forces person, whose particular skills are classified."

"What are Harry's non-magical defence skills like?" asked Connor.

"Pretty good, so I believe. I've never actually sparred with him non-magically, but Kingsley added physical defence to the Auror training after the war. Harry graduated top of his class—head and shoulders above everyone else—so he must have done well with the physical training; he wouldn't have been the top cadet if he was useless in physical defence."

"All right. Let him finish his NEWTs and his Runes OWL this year and then we'll see," Alex conceded.

Hermione agreed, but the next time she spoke to Harry, she did suggest he keep up his physical defence skills. Although she had in mind bringing him into the SGC, she found herself having to come up with other reasons to give Harry for now.

"Why?" asked Harry, puzzled.

"You're telling me you've been spending all this time studying and you haven't needed to take some time out to do something physical? Get some exercise, clear your head?"

"Well, no. I've been playing Quidditch, though. Why the sudden need for me to up my defensive skills?"

"You just sounded like you needed to shake the ants out your pants."

"Nope, not buying it. What aren't you telling me?

Hermione sighed. "I don't know of any specific threats to you, other than the general ones because of the wand. It just occurred to me that you've been sitting at a desk for quite a while now, between your studies and being taken off field teams before that. With the ongoing threat, you don't want to get rusty. You should keep your reflexes sharp. And you should make the most of all the defensive skills available to you."

"Hermione, anyone wanting to try and beat me to gain mastery over the Death Stick will come at me with a wand. Physical defensive skills won't help me much."

"You never know, Harry. Look, I work for the United States Air Force. Even though I'm a civilian, I take advantage of the fact that I'm working for the military and I train in physical defence skills. You'd be surprised just how effective they can be, even against a wand. I just want to keep you alive long enough for us to work out a solution to this problem. I worry about you, Harry," Hermione said in a small voice.

Harry's voice softened. "I know you do, Hermione, but the situation isn't any worse today than it was yesterday or last week or even last month."

"I know. But we don't talk often—we usually email—and hearing your voice… I care about you, you know?"

"I know. I'll take care, Hermione. I promise. And, yes, if it'll put your mind at ease, I'll make sure I keep up _all_ my defensive skills, both magical and physical," said Harry warmly.

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione in relief. Although Hermione had wanted Harry to keep up his defensive skills in case she might be able bring him into the SGC, she had succeeded in worrying herself. It really was important that Harry keep up his skills for his own sake, as much as for any other reason.

After that, things trundled along quietly for SG-23. They managed to inform General Hammond, who in turn informed the relevant higher-ups, about magicals being immune to Goa'uld symbiotes, and they went on plenty of missions, some of which went more smoothly than others. SG-23 were captured a few times—although nowhere near as frequently as SG-1—but they always managed to escape. The ability to do wandless magic—such as apparating, the _Alohomora_ unlocking charm and Disillusionment charms—was invaluable. Hermione continued to work on translations of writings discovered off-world for the SGC, and even managed to squeeze in time for her own studies. Despite her heavy workload, Hermione hoped to be able to finish her first degree in Maths within two years, her Masters degree within a further one to two years, and her PhD a couple of years after that; her magical Mastery in Arithmancy should not take more than three years to complete. With her busy workload, she was not sure that she would be able to meet that schedule, but she was determined to try.


	8. Chapter 8

After a long wait, the SGC were finally honoured by a visit from Master Bra'tac. They had asked him to come sometime previously but he had been unable to take the time to visit until now. Immediately upon his arrival, Hermione sent an SMS to Harry, telling him to use that portkey _now!_ With General Hammond's permission, she went rushing off home to collect Harry and bring him to the SGC, while the General, SG-1 and the rest of SG-23 explained to Master Bra'tac what they needed from him.

"You wish me to stun someone from behind, without warning? That is not honourable," the Jaffa frowned.

"We know," sighed O'Neill.

"Master Bra'tac," said Alex. "There's a device that can only be used by a certain group of people. This group is fragmented, with followers of evil among them striving to gain mastery over this device. The only way to do so is to defeat the current master; it can't be used properly by anyone who isn't its master. The followers of evil would use this device to commit many atrocities—they've already done so in the past, using other, similar devices and weapons, and although they were stopped then, they haven't changed their ways or their intentions. The evil ones know who the current master of the device is, and not only is he in danger because of it, but he's rightly concerned about what would happen if he were to lose mastery of this device to the evil ones. The current owner of the device has therefore appealed to us for help in neutralising it. If you were to defeat the current master of the device, you'd be safe from the evil ones because they have no knowledge of the Stargate or other worlds, and would therefore never be able to find you. You're not one of those who are able to use the device, so while you'd become its master, it'll effectively be neutralised because you can't bring the power out of it. The reason we want you to stun the master from behind is because if he were to know what was happening, he would agree to it and that would prevent you gaining mastery over this device, since you would not technically be defeating him. We realise this isn't entirely honourable, but believe me he'll thank you afterwards."

Master Bra'tac sat silently considering what he had been told. Although the idea of being master of a device was fairly fantastical, it was not outwith the realms of possibility. After all, many of the Goa'uld devices could only be operated by someone with a symbiote, although Sam Carter could operate them imperfectly, thanks to her legacy from Jolinar. Finally, he spoke. "You swear that what you are telling me is true? That this is the only option?"

"I swear," said Alex solemnly. "The backlash of power likely to result from destroying this device means we can't simply destroy it. Hiding it off-world always leaves the chance of discovery by one who might just be able to use it, even if imperfectly. This truly is the only feasible option."

"All right. I will do this for you," agreed Bra'tac, albeit reluctantly.

At that, Alex sent a text message to Hermione to tell her it was happening. Hermione had just arrived home and was greeting Harry.

"Hey, Harry. Good to see you," Hermione said as she hugged her friend. "Oops, just let me get that message, it could be important," she added as her phone bleeped.

Reading the message Hermione texted back with a question. 'Where should I take Harry when we arrive at the SGC? We'll be asked questions if Master Bra'tac is caught on the security cameras stunning Harry.'

A minute later, her phone bleeped again with a reply from Alex. 'Take Potter into the locker room, there's no cameras there. I'll have security notify us when you arrive, so we'll be ready for you.'

'Ok,' came the response from Hermione. Putting her phone away, she turned back to Harry.

"I'm sorry about that, Harry. All right, I have a solution for you but I have to take you to work. I can't tell you about it until we get there either, because it's top secret. I'm not trying to be like Professor Dumbledore, who never told you what you needed to know, I just can't say anything here," Hermione said to her friend anxiously. After having been kept in the dark by Dumbledore for most of his childhood, Harry now had a strong aversion to people keeping secrets from him when they concerned him.

Harry put his arms around Hermione and hugged her. "It's all right, Hermione. I trust you," he said, resting his chin lightly on the top of her head.

Hermione hugged Harry back and then reluctantly stepped out of his arms. "We'd better get going," she said quietly. She was worried about how Harry would react when this was all over. Although he would be grateful for a solution that worked, and he would understand why knowing about the plan in advance would negate what they were trying to achieve, he still would not be happy about having been kept in the dark 'for his own good.'

Nevertheless, Hermione led Harry to her car, determinedly putting on a cheerful face. Judging by the glances Harry was sending her way, Hermione figured he had realised she was putting on a front and she was grateful that he was not pushing her for answers. They spent the short journey to Cheyenne Mountain talking about their respective studies. Even in this short time, Harry had already managed to sit his Defence NEWT and had been awarded an Outstanding grade; he had decided to begin with the subject at which he was most confident. As Hermione had said, he had no trouble with the practical and a few weeks of determined studying had reinforced the theory sufficiently for him to pass the exam well, especially with the help of Hermione's study notes.

"Admittedly, I probably got the Outstanding more on the strength of my practical than on the theory but I just wanted to get one exam out the way already. It kind of gave me a boost, when I got the result," Harry explained and Hermione laughed.

"Well done," she said. "I'm sure you'll do just as well with the other subjects, too."

"Actually, I was thinking…" said Harry, trailing off hesitantly.

Hermione glanced over to see that he was looked embarrassed. "Yes?" she said encouragingly.

"If we manage to sort out this problem with the Elder Wand, I'm not sure if I'll take the Ancient Runes NEWT, although I'll sit all the other exams I planned to take. I know Runes have a practical application but they don't really excite me. I'm thinking about getting a Defence Mastery instead of pursuing warding or curse breaking. Perhaps I could teach Defence at Hogwarts if we get this all sorted out—or maybe in a school here in the States, so I can be closer to you. What do you think?"

Hermione thought. "A Mastery in Defence is probably a good idea, if my plan regarding the Elder Wand works. I'd check the Mastery requirements, though. After all, warding does have significant bearing on Defence, so you might still need the NEWT in Ancient Runes. You'll be a great teacher, if that's what you decide to do. Think how well you taught the DA during the war. And I'd love it if you were close by," she agreed, smiling warmly at her best friend, but wondering what Ginny would say about the idea of moving to the States.

Harry sighed but nodded. Hermione was making sense. He was just frustrated over the fact that he was studying for his NEWTs; it felt like he was going backwards, even though it had a purpose. He was truly regretting that he had taken the honorary NEWTs offered after the war, instead of going back to school with Hermione. _'Not that I would have studied Runes then, anyway,'_ he admitted to himself.

"Cheer up," said Hermione. "At the rate you're going, you'll also manage to sit everything this year, bar your Runes NEWT, so you'll only have one exam to worry about next year."

Harry perked up at that thought. He did not want to be sloppy as the exams were important, but he did want to finish them as quickly as possible. Whatever he was about to say on the subject was lost, though, as they had just arrived at Cheyenne Mountain. "Merlin's pants!" exclaimed Harry in awe as they drove into the mountain complex.

Parking her car, Hermione made her way over to the first internal checkpoint. As they went through it, she spoke to the airmen guarding the checkpoint. "Could you phone down and let Colonel Paxton know we're on our way?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am," the airman replied. "Colonel Paxton already asked us."

"Thank you," said Hermione with a beaming smile. Although the scientists in the SGC were not widely respected by the military members of the base, there were some who had earned respect. Samantha Carter, obviously, since she was military herself. Daniel Jackson was another. Hermione was also fast gaining respect. Any scientist who can handle themselves off-world, in dangerous situations, without causing mayhem or being a burden to their military escorts was someone to be respected, and Hermione fell firmly into that category. In fact, SG-1 had put the word out after their joint mission that Dr Granger was an asset to the SGC and when SG-1 spoke, the SGC listened.

Harry raised an eyebrow but refrained from saying anything, having decided to wait until Hermione was ready to talk to him. He was also quite excited to think that he might finally get to know more about Hermione's top secret job. His eyebrow raised even higher when he realised how far below ground this complex stretched and Hermione choked back her laughter at his reaction.

"I just have to drop my coat and bag off in my locker and then we'll head to the conference room," Hermione said, when they arrived in the SGC. "Come with me. You can't wander around on your own, I'm afraid."

Harry nodded and followed Hermione right into the locker room as she took her time stowing her belongings away in her locker. Unseen by Harry, who was standing chatting to Hermione with his back to the door, it slowly inched open and the tip of a Zat appeared round the edge of the door. By the time the green-eyed wizard had sensed that someone was behind him and had begun to turn in that direction, it was too late: Mater Bra'tac had already stunned him with the Zat. Hermione rushed over to check on Harry, as Alex thanked Bra'tac profusely.

"This was dishonourable," said Bra'tac, shaking his head.

"But necessary, unfortunately," said Alex.

"Perhaps you would like to spar with me, Master Bra'tac?" suggested Teal'c. "A proper duel, to remove the stain of dishonour."

Bra'tac inclined his head in acknowledgement, and Teal'c and O'Neill ledt him away, much to SG-23's relief. They knew the entire base would be interested in watching a duel between Bra'tac and Teal'c and would therefore not be paying much attention to them or their guest.

"Is Potter all right" asked Connor, once Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c had escorted Bra'tac away.

"He's fine," said Arnie, who had been running diagnostics on Harry.

"Good," said Hermione with relief, casting a _Rennervate_ to bring Harry round again.

"What the hell was that?" asked the disgruntled wizard.

Hermione placed her hands on Harry's cheeks, forcing him to look into her eyes. "Harry, I promise it was nothing bad. In fact, that should have just solved your problem. Will you come with me so that I can explain it to you? Will you trust me?"

"How could you ask me that, Hermione?" Harry said indignantly. "Of course I trust you."

"Then come," the petite witch said, holding out her hand to pull Harry up.

Upon arrival in the conference room, Hermione noticed that Sam, Daniel and General Hammond had come to join SG-23 and Harry. She raised her eyebrow at Alex, who simply nodded. With that, Hermione cast a wandless _Muffliato_. Hermione had researched ways to ward the room so that they could activate low-level spells without said spells interfering with the security cameras. As a result, with the General's permission, SG-23 had discreetly planted wardstones, which had been permanently disillusioned, in the conference room, the General's office and Hermione's lab. All that was needed to activate them was for one of SG-23 to bring a control wardstone into the room with them in their pocket, which Alex had done. These wardstones protected the electronics from being fried when low-level spells, such as the _Muffliato_ , were used.

"Okay, we can talk freely now," Hermione said, and made the necessary introductions before explaining her plan to her friend. "Harry, in short, you were just stunned with a non-magical weapon by a non-magical person, one who no one in the wizarding world will ever be able to find. Hopefully, that means that Ma… _he_ is now the Master of the Elder Wand but, because he's not magical, it's been neutralised."

Harry gaped at Hermione in shock. "But… but… are you sure it worked? If it wasn't done magically…?"

"Kingsley said he was going to retrieve the wand for you to test. You can't do it here!" she warned. "General Hammond and Sam and Daniel here all know about magic and my team-mates are all wizards, but no one else on base knows about magic and there's security cameras everywhere. You'll have to wait to test it. Once we know for sure, we can release a pensieve memory and everyone will know you're no longer Master of the Elder Wand."

Harry nodded in bemusement. "Kingsley did give it to me. He told me to bring it with me when you summoned me. Do you really think it worked?" he asked hopefully.

"I doubt that punching you would have worked but I'm hoping that magic will equate an electroshock weapon to a _Stupefy_ ," said Hermione dryly.

"Why didn't you tell me what you had in mind?" asked Harry crossly. "What was all the secrecy for?"

"Think about it!" replied Hermione long-sufferingly, knowing from past experience that Harry tended to react first and think second. "If you had known what I had in mind, would you have agreed to it?"

"Well, of course I would… and that would mean I wouldn't have been defeated because I was willing to be stunned," Harry added in realisation.

"Exactly. Besides, the particular weapon used is highly classified. Kingsley did suggest you might like to join our unit if we can come up with a suitable cover story for you, so we're going to tell you what we do here. If you do decide to go ahead with a Mastery in Defence, Harry, that would certainly work in your favour. You'd need to work on your physical defence skills as well though."

"That's really why you suggested that to me, isn't it?"

"Only in part. I did also suggest it because I was worried about you," said Hermione earnestly and Harry smiled at her.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

With that, Sam and Daniel launched into their practised explanations. When Harry looked at Hermione in disbelief, she snorted in amusement. "What, you can believe in magic but not this? It really is true, Harry. And better yet, magicals can't become hosts, which makes us good candidates for the SGC. And with symbiotes being somewhat snake-like, if you can communicate with them, then you're definitely someone we want to have on board."

Harry's face lit up. Even if his problem truly had been solved, he no longer wished to return to working in the Auror Office. He had put that firmly behind him and was ready to move onto something else. In truth, Harry was as frustrated as Hermione with the way magical Britain was stagnating and he was more than ready to move away. This was something important. Not for nothing had Hermione described Harry as having a 'saving people thing' in the past, and working at the SGC would be the ultimate 'saving people thing.' Besides, he would be working with Hermione again, he realised joyfully.

Harry spent the day with Hermione and her team, learning more about the SGC. He even spent time talking to Daniel and realised just why knowledge of Ancient Runes would be useful if he were to join the SGC himself. As the knowledge of the SGC had been shared with certain other countries a few months previously, Harry's presence was passed off as him being a special representative of the British Prime Minister, who wanted a trusted member of staff to see the SGC in operation, now that some British military teams had been seconded to the SGC.

When their work day was over, SG-23 took Harry to Kemp's Magical Gym in Wizard's Walk. Once they were in their usual duelling room, Harry produced the Elder Wand and cast a few spells with it.

"It feels different," said Harry finally.

"In what way?" asked Hermione.

"Do you remember during the war, after my wand got broken and you lost yours at Malfoy Manor? We were using wands we'd snatched from Death Eaters? We could use their wands but they didn't work properly for us. It was always a struggle to get the wands to do what we wanted," Harry explained.

"Yes, I had to focus as much magic on forcing the wand to obey me as on the spells I was actually casting," agreed Hermione. "Bellatrix's wand _hated_ me—and I hated it."

"That's what the Elder Wand feels like now," said Harry. "It's working up to a point because it's a wand and it's doing what it was designed to do, but it really is only up to a point. It seems reluctant to cooperate and I got the distinct impression it was humouring me solely because I was casting low level spells. I don't think it'll be quite as willing to do what I want for anything beyond a _Lumos_ or _Wingardium Leviosa_."

Alex flicked his wand to summon a duelling dummy from a cupboard. "Try something higher level against this," he suggested to the green-eyed wizard.

Harry tried to cast a _Reducto_ against the dummy, and a very weak beam of light shot out of the wand, dissipating even before it reached the dummy. "No," he said, shaking his head. "The wand will let me cast the spell, but only very weakly."

"Try a Light oriented spell," suggested Arnie. "A _Patronus_ , perhaps." The _Patronus_ was not a low-level spell as it was not easy to cast, but it was pure Light magic.

Harry tried but could only produce a weak mist from the Elder Wand. Taking out his own wand, he cast the _Patronus_ again and a very large, very bright, corporeal stag cantered out of his wand and around the room.

Hermione began to grin. "It worked, Harry. It really worked!" she whispered.

Harry flung his arms around his bushy-haired friend and swung her round joyously. "Thank you, Hermione!" he exclaimed happily. "I don't know what I'd do without you!"

"Mope around in a funk?" she suggested impishly and they all laughed.

"All right, back to business," said Alex. "We'll check your and Hermione's memories in a pensieve to be sure they don't show Master Bra'tac or the weapon used to stun you, then you can issue them to Kingsley Shacklebolt, so that your Minister can announce you're no longer the master of that dratted wand. Otherwise, we'll need to take photographs from the pensieve. Now, what should we do with the wand itself, given that it's too dangerous to destroy it?"

"Why don't we put it in the high-security vault at Gringotts, where I've stored that grimoire we found off-world?" suggested Hermione. "The four of us are the only ones that can access that vault, so it should be safe enough there."

"Unless someone tries to rob Gringotts for the wand," said Harry dryly.

"Don't worry. I've put up protections that will prevent anyone getting into that vault," said Hermione grimly. "Not even if they have the assistance of the goblins. Besides, no one will know it's there unless we tell them."

Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise but did not say anything, merely nodding once in acknowledgement.

"All right, Harry," said Connor. "What are your plans for the future? Would you be interested in joining the SGC?"

"Hell, yes!" replied Harry. "I'd definitely be interested in joining, but I'd need a cover story. As for my plans, well, my immediate plans are to sit my Charms and Transfiguration NEWTs – I'm scheduled to take Charms next month and Transfiguration a couple of months later. I hope to sit my OWL in Ancient Runes by the end of this academic year. After that, I was thinking of doing a Mastery in Defence, although Hermione said I might need to take my NEWT in Ancient Runes for that as well, because of the use of Runes in warding."

"Yes, I think you probably would need your NEWT in Runes for a Defence Mastery," agreed Arnie.

"Hermione is doing a Mastery in Arithmancy on her own time, while working for the SGC. Would you be interested in doing the same? You could come to work at the SGC and do your Defence Mastery at the same time," Alex proposed. "I suggest you complete your studies this year as planned and then work on your Runes NEWT and your Mastery while you're working here. Not only would do you most likely need your Runes NEWT for your Mastery, but you'll find it very useful for the work we do."

"Yes, I'd definitely be interested in that," said Harry hopefully.

"All right, here's what I suggest: let us know when you've finished all the exams you plan to take this year. If you'd be willing to move to Colorado Springs then, we can arrange a mini boot-camp for you here. We have some former colleagues—magicals—who are no longer in the military but who'll be able to give you basic training; they also have Masteries in Defence, so we'll see about one of them supervising your Defence Mastery. We'll make sure you have time to work on your Runes NEWT as well—I'm sure Hermione can help you with that. By the time you finish your boot camp, we should have been able to come up with a suitable cover story for you, so that you can start work at the SGC," said Alex decisively.

"That… that would be brilliant," said Harry, looking ecstatically happy. He had become very depressed thinking that he was virtually unemployable and now, thanks to Hermione, a whole new world was opening up to him, one where he would be useful again. Like Hermione, Harry was someone who needed a purpose.

Harry spent a few days with Hermione before returning home. He was given permission to come into the SGC with her every day, and after work he would duel with SG-23 before spending the rest of the evening with his best friend. On his final night in Colorado Springs, Harry and Hermione were invited to a team-and-family night at Alex Paxton's. Harry especially enjoyed the night once he realised that all the magicals were happy to treat him as just Harry instead of the Boy-Who-Lived, something which even British magicals who had known him since he was eleven years old were still unwilling or unable to do. Joining the SGC was looking better and better to the beleaguered young wizard.

"Thank you, Hermione," the green eyed wizard said emotionally, as he was standing in Hermione's hallway, saying his farewells. "You've always been there for me since our first year in Hogwarts, and I don't know what I'd do without you now." Harry kissed Hermione's cheek tenderly and she blushed. Harry spoke the activation word for the portkey and disappeared, thinking about Hermione's blush, while the witch in question stood with her hand pressed to her burning cheek.

 _'Why did Hermione blush like that? Does she like me?'_ wondered the green-eyed wizard hopefully. His relationship with Ginny Weasley was on its last legs, but Harry was not upset about this. Their relationship had run its course long ago. It had always been Hermione and Ron who had been with Harry through his adventures and so, when he had first started dating Ginny, she had been a distraction from his woes, since Harry had been able to set aside all thoughts of the war and the consequent weight on his shoulders while he was with the youngest Weasley. Now, with the benefit of clearer thinking, due to no longer having a Horcrux within him, and to being of greater maturity, Harry was better able to appreciate the bushy-haired witch who had always been by his side.

 _'What was that about? That kiss was so… loving,'_ thought Hermione, as she stood staring at the spot where her best friend had been standing moments before. Hermione had not had much luck in the romance department and, although she was hesitant to risk their friendship, she could not help wondering what it might be like to date Harry. The two of them knew each other better than anyone else and they depended on each other in many ways, both of them being Muggle-raised and having had to struggle both with the war and with finding their feet in the wizarding world.

Harry returned to Britain newly energised, and with a greater enthusiasm for the study of Ancient Runes, now that he knew how useful this knowledge would be at the SGC. The difference in his mood was noticed by all but was explained away as the problem of the Elder Wand having been solved. Hermione had made a point of looking away from the door where Master Bra'tac had zapped Harry with the Zat gun, and her memory reflected this. Photographs were taken in a pensieve from the memory and clearly showed Harry being stunned. The photographs were carefully taken in black-and-white in order to disguise the fact that the colour of the blast of energy issuing from the Zat differed to that of a _Stupefy_. As many precautions as possible were taken to reduce the number of questions that might be asked. These pictures were then released to the _Daily Prophet_ and the _Quibbler,_ together with a statement from Kingsley, as Minister for Magic.

.o.O.o.

 _It has been announced by Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic, that Harry Potter is no longer the Master of the Elder Wand. Apparently, Mr Potter was taken by surprise and stunned from behind during a recent holiday overseas. Mr Potter did not know the person responsible, although they have since been identified as being of no threat to the Wizarding World. Minister Shacklebolt has stated that, "Upon testing the Elder Wand, it was quite clear that it no longer works for Mr Potter. The Elder Wand, which Mr Potter had returned to Albus Dumbledore's tomb after the Final Battle, has now been hidden in a secret location. The only people who are currently aware of its whereabouts have sworn oaths of secrecy not to divulge this information. The name of the person who stunned Mr Potter will likewise remain a secret."_

.o.O.o.

This caused a furore in the British wizarding world and, despite the photographs showing Harry being stunned, there were many who were convinced this was a stunt to try and fool them into believing Harry was no longer the Master of the Elder Wand and that in reality he still was. Reluctantly, Harry suggested that he make a wand oath before the Wizengamot.

"It would be best if we can avoid releasing the entire memory, since we don't really want the wizarding world to learn about the SGC," Harry logically pointed out to Kingsley.

"It may still come to that," replied the Minister sombrely.

"I'm sure the SGC would prefer we avoid it for as long as possible. There's a chance people could apparate into the SGC, based on what they see in the memory, if we're not careful," said Harry and Kingsley nodded in agreement.

"We'll start with the wand oath," Kingsley sighed. "Oh, and the next time you speak to Hermione, suggest that they erect permanent anti-apparition wards around the SGC. There's a chance people may be able to apparate in, based solely on the photographs."

Harry attended the next session of the Wizengamot at Kingsley's invitation. The two powerful men stood together in the centre of the floor and silence gradually fell from the sheer force of their personalities, as the members of the Wizengamot wondered what was happening. When all was silent, Kingsley spoke, "Mr Potter has a declaration to make."

Harry withdrew his wand and announced loudly and clearly, "I, Harry James Potter, declare on my magic that I am no longer the Master of the Elder Wand. _Expecto Patronum._ " With that, Harry's Patronus emerged from his wand and cantered around the room. Harry smirked at the expressions of shock on the faces of the members of the Wizengamot, and especially the members of the press who were observing the session.

"Will that be all, Mr Potter?" Kingsley asked.

"Yes, Minister. By your leave?"

"Of course."

Harry happily strode out the Wizengamot chamber, ignoring the clamouring press and hoping that this would put an end to the situation, once and for all. Harry's declaration was widely reported in the press, together with a picture of him casting his Patronus. Harry doubted that everyone was convinced—anyone wanting the Death Stick for nefarious purposes would never be convinced, even if Harry were to be seen being defeated right in front of their eyes—but the majority of the wizarding world seemed to accept his magical oath and Harry was therefore no longer challenged by every other witch and wizard who crossed his path, thus eliminating most of the everyday threats against him. The remaining danger would be present in any case, as Harry was not exactly popular with those who had flourished during Voldemort's regime; for these people, the Elder Wand was simply an added incentive to attack Harry Potter.

Hermione and SG-23 took on board Kingsley's recommendation, and erected anti-apparition wards around the various locker rooms—as they were all virtually identical, it was deemed advisable to ward them all—since these were the location shown in the photographs of Harry being stunned by Master Bra'tac. Given its immense size, they could not hope to ward the entire base without the wards affecting the electronics, most especially the equipment used by NORAD, which was housed in the upper levels of Cheyenne Mountain. SG-23 continued going on missions and, in between times, Hermione worked on translations and her own studies.

Harry's studies were also progressing. He had completed his Charms and Transfiguration NEWTs, gaining Outstandings in those subjects as well. Harry had not been surprised to gain an Outstanding in Defence, since that had always been his best subject and his Auror training in any case surpassed NEWT level Defence, but he was shocked to gain Outstandings in his other two NEWTs as well. _'There's something to be said for sitting NEWTs as an adult,'_ Harry conceded. _'I'm taking my studies far more seriously now than I ever did at school.'_

By the time Harry had completed his OWL in Ancient Runes, he had broken up with Ginny Weasley. The red-headed witch who had had a crush on the Boy-Who-Lived since long before meeting him had not been pleased that Harry wanted to end their relationship but had eventually admitted that the Harry of reality was not who she was looking to be with. Although the break-up had been fraught to begin with, Harry and Ginny regained their friendship to the extent that Harry was able to go into his Ancient Runes OWL exam with a clear head. On hearing that he had passed with an Exceeds Expectations—disappointed not to get an Outstanding but pleased enough with the result, as it enabled him to proceed to his NEWT studies in that subject—Harry immediately made preparations to move to Colorado Springs.

Hermione's team-mates had already put Harry in touch with Gideon Kemp, husband of Diana, who with her husband, owned and managed Kemp's Magical Gym. Gideon was a former boot camp sergeant, with much experience of training others; he also happened to have a magical Mastery in Defence. Without discussing the SGC, Alex had explained that Harry Potter needed accelerated basic and combat training, and would then like to begin studying for his Defence Mastery. As a former military man himself, Gideon had understood that there were things Alex could not tell him and had agreed to undertake the training of Harry without asking any questions.

"If Potter has passed his Auror training, then he's already halfway to his Mastery," Gideon had said to Alex.

Harry was nervous about the planned boot camp, knowing it would be brutal, but was also looking forward to it.

"It's only three months," he said to Hermione philosophically.

The plan was for Harry to focus exclusively on the boot camp for the three months it would take for Gideon to prepare him to work with the US Armed Forces. After that, Harry would continue to work out daily with Gideon in order to maintain his post boot camp fitness; he would spend half a day working out—both magically and non-magically—and half a day studying for his Ancient Runes NEWT. Once he had completed this final NEWT, Harry would then be employed by the SGC and would have to complete his Mastery on his own time. Harry's cover would be that he was a member of a special—and highly hush-hush—British anti-terrorist unit, and that despite his young age, he had successfully led the takedown of a despotic megalomaniac and his followers. During the course of his Auror training, Harry had in fact, at his own request, undertaken additional training with the Anti-Terrorist branch of the Metropolitan Police Force, and this expertise had been put to good use with regard to tracking the final Death Eaters in hiding, even though he had not been allowed to participate in the actual take-downs. That this training had been police training rather than with a military counter terrorism unit would be glossed over for the SGC at large.

The Weasleys and Harry's other friends in Britain were disappointed that he would be moving overseas but supported him in his pursuit of a Mastery, not knowing that he would be working with the American Armed Forces, or that he was planning a permanent move to the States. Minerva McGonagall had even volunteered that she would be delighted to offer Harry the Defence position once he attained his Mastery, but Harry refrained from committing himself. Britain had not been a happy place for Harry to live and he was hoping that the United States, where his Boy-Who-Lived status would be of little relevance, would prove to be a good move for him. _'Besides, Hermione will be there,'_ Harry thought to himself optimistically.


	9. Chapter 9

It did not take Harry long to pack up and move to the States. Kreacher, Harry's house elf, had shrunk and packed Harry's belongings into a magical, multi-compartment trunk with just a few snaps of his fingers. Harry then shrunk his trunk, put it in his pocket, left the key to his rented flat with a neighbour as instructed by his landlord, grasped the owl portkey from Hermione and said the password. "Errol." Minutes later, Harry was standing in Hermione's home. Just as he was quietly congratulating himself for managing to land standing upright for once, Harry was knocked over by a bushy-haired missile.

"Harry!" cried Hermione, toppling them both over as she enthusiastically threw her arms around her friend.

"Oof!" Harry grunted, as he had the air knocked out of him.

"Oops. Sorry, Harry," Hermione grinned unrepentantly.

"That's okay," Harry replied, carding his fingers through her hair. _'What am I doing?'_ he wondered, as he lay on the floor with Hermione sprawled on top of him. _'I should really be getting up.'_ But Harry made no effort to move, quite happy to stay as he was.

"How did your exam go, Harry?" Hermione had only just come back from an off-world mission late the previous night and had not had a chance to catch up until now. Harry began to laugh. The question was just so _Hermione_.

"Stop that, you!" said Hermione, lightly thumping Harry on the shoulder, but making no effort to move off her friend. They lay on the floor together talking, until they were interrupted by Hermione's phone ringing.

"I'd better get that," she said with a sigh. "It might be the base."

Reluctantly, Hermione got up and went to answer the phone. "Granger. Oh, hi, Gideon. Yes, yes he's here. Arrived a few minutes ago. Uh huh. Yes. Okay, no problem. Speak to you soon. Bye."

Turning round to Harry, who had moved to the couch, Hermione explained with an evil grin, "That was your taskmaster for the next three months. He's expecting to see you bright and early tomorrow morning at Kemp's Gym. You can floo from here." Hermione had made sure to buy a house with a fireplace, so that she could be connected to the floo network.

"Oh," said Harry flatly.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione in surprise. "I thought you wanted to do this?"

"Yes, I do, but I thought I might have a day to adjust to the different time-zone before jumping straight into tough, physical training," Harry whined.

" _Accio_ Jet-lag Potion," Hermione smirked. "I figured you might not have much time to adjust so I made sure to get the potion for you. Take it now and you'll be able to stay up until this evening. Then you can go to bed and it'll have you on the right time-zone by morning, with no side effects. Gideon wants you at the gym, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, no later than zero seven hundred—you might as well get used to using military time now—so you ought to go to bed no later than twenty-two hundred, if you can manage to stay up that late. The potion will ensure you have a full eight hours' sleep while your body adjusts and you'll have plenty of time to get yourself up and ready before heading out."

"Do you use the twenty-four hour clock all the time now?" asked Harry in amusement.

"Not really," smiled Hermione. "Certainly not outside work. But I'm a scientist, so I'm excused if I use regular time. As far as the SGC is concerned, though, you're supposed to have a military background, so you'll be expected to use it instinctively. So from now on, we're going to use military time exclusively, to get you into the habit."

Hermione had suggested that Harry live with her for the three months of his basic training, as he would probably be too exhausted to go house hunting for himself, or even do his laundry and cook himself proper meals—although Kreacher would take care of the house if he got his own place, she supposed. Kreacher had been assured that there was a place for him in her house too, but the elf was reluctant. He had lived in the Black home on Grimmauld Place all his life, except for a few months when he had served at Hogwarts, and the elderly elf was nervous about making such a move. Harry had understood Kreacher's reluctance and had chosen not to press the point until he had his own home in Colorado Springs, but had insisted that if Kreacher stayed in Britain, he was not to confine himself to the house on Grimmauld Place.

 _"You can go and help out in Hogwarts, if you like, or even just go there to visit the other elves. Or you could help Andromeda with Teddy. I don't want you being lonely,"_ said Harry firmly. _"And, of course, you're welcome to come and join me in the States whenever you want. Oh, and if any of the Weasleys—or anyone else, for that matter—tries to give you orders, I give you permission to say no if you wish. You're not obliged to obey their orders unless you wish to."_

Kreacher had smiled at that. Ron and Ginny both had a habit of ordering him around as though he was their elf, and never bothered to take the time to thank Kreacher. Nor did they consider the fact that Kreacher was elderly and not as capable as he once had been. Ron and Ginny expected Kreacher to wait on them hand and foot when they were in Grimmauld Place, however, Harry and Hermione were very considerate of Kreacher and the elf therefore liked serving them; he was less enthusiastic about the two red-heads but did as they ordered because he knew they were his Master's friends. Permission to ignore the two Weasleys was very welcome indeed. Harry knew that neither Ron nor Ginny was in any way malicious but they were both somewhat oblivious to the feelings of others and this often expressed itself in the way they dealt with Kreacher.

"Come on, let's get you unpacked and settled in," said Hermione once Harry had drunk the potion. Fortunately, it was Sunday and she did not have to work that day, so she could spend the time with Harry.

"You don't drive, do you?" Hermione asked casually as she sat watching Harry unpack.

"No," Harry said, pausing in his unpacking to look at her. "Do I need to?"

"Once you start working at the SGC you will. You can't just apparate in. You'll need to use non-magical transport and that means driving. Perhaps we ought to see about booking you lessons once you've finished your basic training," said Hermione, adding it to her mental to-do list for Harry.

"I have a motorbike licence," he suggested.

"Okay, I'll talk to Sam. She's a real motorbike enthusiast. She can tell you the best place to go to rent or buy a motorbike. You'll still need to learn to drive a car, though. Average snowfall in Colorado Springs in the winter is over a metre thick. A motorbike isn't the safest option in the snowy weather. Just don't forget which side of the road to drive on!"

Later that day, when they were in the kitchen making a meal, Hermione removed the light cardigan she was wearing to reveal a pretty sleeveless top underneath. Harry, however, was not looking at Hermione's top, he was looking at her left arm, where she was displaying a tattoo that Harry had not seen before.

"You have a tattoo?" Harry asked incredulously, gently taking hold of Hermione's arm and examining it.

The tattoo ran down Hermione's left inside forearm. It was a large feather with a flock of birds flying out of it, bordered by the words, _Take these broken wings and learn to fly_ ³. Harry was very surprised to see Hermione with a tattoo at all, and especially one of that size; a tattoo did not fit in with Harry's perception of his friend.

Hermione sighed and spoke quietly. "I wanted to cover my Mudblood scar. Not just cover it up but eradicate it. I had been covering it with a glamour but I always knew it was there, and I hated it. When I started working at the SGC, I had to take into account the fact that I might end up spending time in the infirmary if I'm ever injured or pick up any off-world viruses. When I'm asleep—or unconscious—the glamour fades and I have to reapply it when I wake up. The scar would have been noticed and there was no way I could explain to the SGC medical personnel why I have the word Mudblood carved in my skin, or even what Mudblood means. I considered plastic surgery, but from what I understand, it would need a skin transplant, and, again, I would have to explain the scar to a non-magical surgeon. Besides, I would always know it was there, under the new skin, just like I did when I used a glamour.

"Of course, it's still there, under the tattoo, but that's different somehow. _Take these broken wings and learn to fly_ is a line from a Beatles song, called _Blackbird._ It resonates with me partly because my Dad was a big Beatles fan, but mainly because it's a human rights song. _Blackbird_ was written as a reaction to rising racial tensions in the States when the song was written in 1968, and, well, there isn't much difference in my mind between being black in the States at that time and being a Muggleborn in Britain. That song really speaks to me, and that particular quote seemed an especially appropriate choice to cover up the Mudblood scar, because I felt broken every time I looked at it and I needed to learn—metaphorically speaking—to fly. That scar made me feel dirty, but the tattoo is inspiring. It makes me feel I can do anything I put my mind to, be whatever I want to be, that I'm _not_ inferior!"

"Oh, Hermione," Harry whispered as he took his friend in his arms and held her tightly as she clung to him for reassurance and comfort, tears dripping silently down both their faces. "How did you explain the scar to the tattooist?" he asked hoarsely.

"Connor took me to a magical tattoo artist. I didn't need to explain what Mudblood meant… but I couldn't look him in the face—I hate being pitied! Luckily, it's not going to be an issue anymore," Hermione said, with determined cheerfulness.

"It's a large tattoo, and over a scar too… didn't it hurt?" asked Harry.

"When compared to the Cruciatus torture curse?" Hermione asked dryly. "No, Harry. Magical tattoos don't hurt. The tattooist draws the tattoo on very fine parchment, similar to good quality tracing paper, which has been specially treated. Then he places the parchment, tattoo side down against your skin, and pours a special potion over it to transfer it onto your skin. After that, he says a spell which embeds the tattoo into your skin and seals it in. It tingles a bit like pins and needles, but it doesn't hurt the way having a tattoo injected by a Muggle tattoo needle does. Once the spell has been cast, the tattoo is permanent. The tattoo artist was very considerate; after he transferred the tattoo onto my arm, he checked to see if it covered my scar completely before he said the spell to embed and seal it, and when he saw that it didn't quite cover the scar, he redrew the tattoo and tried again. He did it a few times, until both he and I were happy with the tattoo, and he didn't charge me for the extra work. He doesn't normally do that—he usually just draws the tattoo once and that's it."

After that emotional conversation, the two friends sat down to eat and catch up over their meal. Conversation turned to their friends in Britain, which was Harry's cue.

"I broke up with Ginny," said Harry neutrally.

Hermione looked inquiringly at Harry, not sure if he was upset about this or not. Seeing her raised eyebrow, Harry smiled and shook his head. "It's all right. The relationship has been on its last legs for a while. I just didn't have the guts to do anything about it sooner. It wasn't only because she still sees Harry-the-Hero instead of just Harry, but also because we're very different people. Perhaps it's my Muggle upbringing, but we have different outlooks on life. The last few months, when I was renting a flat in London, I enjoyed being able just to flip a switch to put the lights on, and being able to watch television or listen to music, other than what's on the Wizarding Wireless Network—Muggle music is _so_ much better than wizarding! And having a computer has been great. I know most homes don't have such a high magical concentration that they would fry the electronics, but magicals don't seem to use Muggle appliances regardless. A fridge/freezer is so much handier than putting food in stasis, but Ginny refused to touch the fridge—she'd barely eat food that came out of it; something about it really freaked her out. I love magic. I know magic can do amazing things, but so can Muggles. I _like_ living a blended life, but it was too hard for Ginny. Ron, of course, will eat anything!"

"I knew that Ginny still had problems seeing past your hero status, but I didn't know about the other problems," said Hermione slowly, shaking her head. "It's a shame, because both magical and Muggle cultures have so much to offer."

"It didn't help that Ginny and I didn't see each other very often," added Harry philosophically. "Quidditch players need to travel a lot. In fact, given that we'd been having problems for a while but neither of us was willing to admit it, I wonder if she was simply taking out her frustrations over our relationship on the fridge, since it was something tangible that she could get upset over."

"It's possible. Do you think Ginny might be interested in coming to visit you?" asked Hermione.

"I doubt it," replied Harry, shaking his head. "She's with Lee Jordan now."

"Really?" said Hermione in surprise. "I can kind of see that working. Lee is a professional Quidditch commentator, so they're working in the same field and probably manage to spend more time with each other than you and Ginny did. Not to mention, Lee must be intelligent and have a good sense of humour or Fred and George wouldn't have become such good friends with him back at Hogwarts, so that would appeal to Ginny. She's the sibling who's most like Fred and George, after all. Does Lee still help out George in the shop?"

"I believe so, in between Quidditch matches," Harry answered. "Ginny does too, when she has a chance, which is less often than Lee because of her training. Yeah, I agree that relationship does make sense. I think I was reluctant to break up with Ginny because I didn't want to be alone, rather than for any other reason. I'm glad she's happy."

"Well, you'll be meeting new people here, and they won't be Boy-Who-Lived fans," said Hermione encouragingly.

"I know. That's why I finally broke up with Ginny once I'd definitely decided to make the move here. What about you, Hermione? Anyone special in your life?"

Hermione snorted. "And just when would I have time to meet anyone? Seriously, I did date a couple of the curse breakers— _not_ at the same time, Harry!—when I was working for Gringotts but it's been difficult since I moved here because I have to keep my work secret. It's hard to explain what an expert in Ancient Runes and Languages is doing working for the US Air Force, not to mention going out on missions where she gets injured! I could date someone in the SGC as long as he's not on my team, but there's the magic issue. I imagine anyone working in the SGC would be open enough to accept it, but it's still risky to tell them about it. However, I believe we're going to be recruiting more magicals, so perhaps there might be someone I'd like to date amongst the new recruits."

"You'll find someone, Hermione. You're too good a person to be alone."

"Thank you, Harry," said Hermione, carefully not mentioning to Harry just how many people in the SGC were single lest she put him off. Long hours and the need for secrecy were not conducive to long-term relationships.

Instead, Hermione decided to move the conversation in a different direction. "Did you ever have that conversation with Dumbledore's portrait?"

"Yes," sighed Harry. "After you and the SGC solved the problem for me. But I couldn't stay angry with him. Perhaps if it had been the real Dumbledore, but when I looked at him, all I could see was canvas and paint, you know?" Hermione nodded in understanding and Harry continued. "Dumbledore didn't intend that I should end up in that mess. He really did plan to die the last Master of the Elder Wand, and it should have worked…"

"But then you shouted out to everyone present at the Final Battle that, yes, the Elder Wand really does exist and that you're it's master. Not only that, but you also told everyone how to become it's master," Hermione observed wryly.

"Snape's portrait said pretty much the same thing to me. Far more sarcastically, of course. I'm not sure I would have manage to defeat Voldemort if I hadn't been Master of the Elder Wand, so I can't regret it entirely. But, yeah, I should have kept my mouth shut," Harry agreed with an unrepentant grin. While Harry could have done without the trouble caused by being Master of the Elder Wand, it had in fact been very satisfying to point out to Voldemort everything the Dark Lord had got wrong before finally destroying him.

The next three months went by quickly for both the friends. Nothing would make Harry a seasoned soldier apart from time, however, as Gideon Kemp said at the end of his unofficial basic training, "You have good instincts, you're good enough to bluff."

After that, Harry spent the next several months working out half a day with Gideon and studying half a day for his Ancient Runes NEWT, working intensively on his studies to complete his NEWT as quickly as possible. Harry did not have a passion for the subject, preferring more practical subjects to the primarily academic study of Ancient Runes, but he understood the value of having a Runes background when he would be working with the SGC. With some intensive study and tutoring from his best friend, it did not take long before Hermione decreed him ready to sit his NEWT and Harry made arrangements to go back to Britain to sit his final exam. Passing this with a respectable Exceeds Expectations, Harry—to his great relief—was finally ready to begin his Mastery.

Harry knew that he would be assigned to a magical team, but Alex Paxton was still going through the process of selecting suitable candidates to join the SGC. Harry therefore chose to pass the time by working on his Mastery, deciding that he would join the SGC together with the rest of his team. This would give Harry a good start on his Mastery studies, before the amount of time he would have available to study would drop drastically once he began working at the SGC.

It was some weeks later when Harry finally began his employment with the SGC. As Harry was attached to a new magical team, SG-27, his team was aware that he was not a seasoned soldier, however, they also knew his background and were happy to have Harry on their team. Harry quickly bonded with his new team and was looking forward to the prospect of Gating to other worlds. Of course, all new SG teams had to undergo further training, unique to the SGC, before they were allowed off-world, but to a relieved Harry it already felt as though his new career had finally started. Sometimes, Harry felt he had been studying and training forever and that the study would never end, but mostly he was enjoying himself.

Harry had still not bought or rented his own home. He and Hermione had missed each other enormously over the past few years of living in different countries and were enjoying being close again. Nothing was said between the two friends, but there was a tacit understanding that Harry was welcome to live with Hermione indefinitely.

Unfortunately, while Harry and Hermione were happy with their new lives, the SGC as a whole was devastated over the loss of their Chief Medical Officer, Dr Janet Fraiser, who had been killed during a firefight off-world, where she had been tending to an injured SGC member. Hermione, who had only recently begun to form a good friendship with the petite doctor, and SG-1, who were all very close to Janet, were finding it particularly difficult—especially Sam, who was Janet's best friend and had taken in her daughter, Cassandra.

With the recruitment of more magicals to the SGC, Dr Anthea Jason from Peterson Air Force Base was also recruited to the SGC medical team in place of Dr Brightman, who had been promoted to Janet's position of CMO. Their constant medical checkups had been easier for SG-23 once Janet had been made aware of magic, but having a magical Healer on base would be far better. Of course, the ideal would have been to have both Janet and Anthea in the infirmary but as this was not possible, like the rest of the SGC, SG-23 just had to mourn Janet's loss and move on.

Anthea's appointment came just in time. Hermione returned from a mission with a stubborn infection, which non-magical antibiotics were having no effect on. She had been in the infirmary for two days, with no improvement in her condition, much to Dr Brightman's concern, when Dr Jason began her first shift at the SGC. Anthea promptly sent Alex Paxton off to the magical apothecary with a prescription for an anti-biotic potion and Hermione's condition improved immediately. Of course, Dr Brightman did not know the reason for the sudden and drastic improvement but SG-23 and SG-27 breathed a collective sigh of relief at the knowledge that Anthea was now on the SGC medical staff.

Hermione, who had finally been cleared to return home—with instructions not to set foot back on base for the rest of the week and to take it easy in the meantime—sank onto her couch with a sigh of contentment. None of the members of the off-world teams liked spending time in the infirmary. The bushy-haired witch planned to make the most of her time off to put in some work on her Maths Degree and Arithmancy Mastery, however, Harry firmly confiscated her laptop.

"Oh no, you don't. You were told to take it easy," he said disapprovingly.

"But I am taking it easy," Hermione whined. "I'm not working out or duelling or running away from Death Eaters or the Goa'uld. I'm just studying."

Harry snorted. "And when you study, you never get so caught up that you forget to eat or sleep, do you?" he asked sardonically, and Hermione blushed. "I'll let you have your laptop for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, but not more than that. Apart from that, you have to rest."

"You realise you'll have to help entertain me then, don't you? So I won't get bored," Hermione asked impishly.

"Well, it's lucky I also have a few days off, isn't it?" Harry smiled at her. "I'll work on my Mastery while you're working on yours, and then we can watch movies together or something for the rest of the time."

The next few days passed very agreeably. The two friends worked companionably side-by-side for the few hours that Harry let Hermione study, and spent the rest of the time curled up together on the couch watching movies. Having both grown up in the non-magical world, they had missed Muggle conveniences and electronics while at Hogwarts and now enjoyed vegging out in front of the television every once in a while.

"Although, this is a bit more than once in a while," commented Hermione at the end of the second day. "Much longer and I'll turn into a complete couch potato. At least you're still working out every day."

Harry smiled. He had banned Hermione from working out for as long as she had been told to take it easy; only when she was cleared by one of the SGC medics would he allow her to work out again. Although there may have been a bit of damaged pride in that, Harry admitted to himself. Hermione had been studying martial arts for several years now, supplemented with her training under Teal'c since she had joined the SGC, and her physical defence skills were much better than his. Harry had thought he would easily be able to overpower Hermione because he was physically bigger and stronger than his friend, but Teal'c had taught Hermione how to compensate for that and had she humiliated Harry when she had sparred with him, despite his training with Gideon Kemp. Harry had been working even harder on his physical defence skills ever since.

.o.O.o.

Over the course of the next few months, Harry and Hermione grew even closer, something which did not escape notice by the rest of the base, but as they were on different teams, General Hammond did not see it as a cause for alarm. Besides, on the few occasions when SGC-23 and SG-27 went on joint missions, it was very obvious just how well Harry and Hermione worked together; they were like an extension of each other. Even SG‑1 was impressed by the two non-military personnel when the three teams went out together on occasion.

The rest of the SGC was surprised that General Hammond was pairing SG-1 with SG-23 and SG-27 so often—when SG-1 went out on joint missions, it was more commonly with SG-2—but the General was considering whether or not it would be advantageous to split up the magical members of the SGC, so that there was one magical on each off-world team. General Hammond therefore wanted to see how well the magical teams worked with SG-1, which was so far the only non-magical team aware of the existence of magic. On the plus side, magicals could not become hosts and had additional skills they could use to help get their teams out of trouble, but on the minus side, the magicals were very concerned that knowledge of magic should not be leaked to the more unscrupulous enterprises that had knowledge of the Stargate programme. These enterprises would not hesitate to kidnap magicals and either force said magicals to do their bidding, or else use them as lab rats—or both. These were very valid concerns, as General Hammond was well aware, and the magicals were strongly resisting the idea of being split up amongst other teams. General Hammond had to admit that they had a point, because it was never good to split up established teams who worked well together.

There was a report of a minor System Lord making a power play, and General Hammond had sent SG-1 out to investigate and gather information. However, SG-1 was late returning from their mission, and General Hammond was getting worried after several hours with no communication from his flagship team. While it was not by any means unknown for SG-1 to get in trouble—in fact, it tended to be the rule rather than the exception in SG-1's case—they always managed to make it back home eventually, but this was late even by SG-1's standards. Reviewing the teams not currently on other missions, the General decided to send in SG-23 and SG-27 to locate SG-1 and, if necessary help rescue them. Unfortunately, these two teams had found themselves walking into a trap and were promptly captured upon arrival on the relevant planet. Although confident of their abilities to escape, they decided to wait until they had a better idea of what had happened to SG-1.

When the two teams were dragged before the Goa'uld System Lord, they noticed the four members of SG-1 all bound with shackles on the floor. SG-1 looked like they had been beaten up quite badly, but they were clearly still functioning—or would be, if they could get out of their shackles.

The eight colleagues were forced down onto their knees by the System Lord's personal guard. "Bow before Rati," her First Prime, or foremost warrior, ordered.

"My consort, Kamadeva, requires a new host. He has rejected _these_ ," Rati said disparagingly, pointing towards SG-1, who rolled their eyes in unison.

"Aw, gee. Isn't that a shame?" said Colonel O'Neill sarcastically, who was immediately backhanded by one of the Jaffa for his insolence.

Ignoring O'Neill, Rati came towards SG-23 and SG-27 with a wriggling symbiote in her hand. The first person she approached was Harry, and the symbiote reached out eagerly towards the green-eyed wizard.

"Oh yes, you'll make a fine host for Kamadeva," Rati smirked.

Harry, on the other hand, was paying no attention to Rati. He was focused on the symbiote.

ᴾᴾPuny, worthless one! Come and serve your god,ᴾᴾ Harry heard.

Realising this was coming from the symbiote and must therefore be Parseltongue, Harry hissed back.

ᴾᴾI will never become a willing host!ᴾᴾ

ᴾᴾA Speaker! A wizard!ᴾᴾ it replied in alarm, squirming away from Harry. However, neither Rati nor her Jaffa noticed the conversation and therefore did not realise the danger to the symbiote that would arise from selecting Harry to be Kamadeva's new host. Nor did Rati seem to realise that the symbiote was now straining away from Harry instead of towards him.

As soon as Rati had approached Harry, Hermione had palmed her wand. The teams had been relieved of their weapons, although Hermione had a spare GDO hidden in the tiny bag strapped around her waist; she had learned from experience that sometimes the risk involved in trying to retrieve their gear after they had been parted from it was not worth taking. However, their wands had not been discovered.

Seeing that Rati and her servants were too busy with Harry and the symbiote to pay attention to anything else, Hermione was quick to react. Without hesitation, Hermione sent her wand shooting from its holster into her hand and sent a finely aimed Reductor curse at Kamadeva, watching in satisfaction as the symbiote blew apart, spraying those nearest it with its guts and blood.

As Rati screamed in horror and anger, Hermione's colleagues took advantage of Rati's distraction and magically opened fire, quickly taking down Rati and her personal guards, before freeing SG-1 from their bonds.

Now in control, the three teams grabbed their gear from the corner where it had all been carelessly thrown.

"Are we just going to leave her here?" asked Harry incredulously, watching the military racing to the door.

"Well, what do you suggest we do with her? We're certainly not bringing her back to Earth," snapped O'Neill in annoyance.

Harry and Hermione exchanged uneasy glances. Since the discovery of a means to extract symbiotes safely, the policy was not to kill Goa'uld because the hosts were innocents; it was preferred to capture the hosts when practical, and extract the parasitical symbiotes. While Harry and Hermione most certainly respected that attitude, they were thinking of what had happened after the war with Voldemort.

There were several witches and wizards who had been placed under the Imperius Curse by the Death Eaters. This curse took away all free will and those who had been placed under the Imperius had all been forced to commit horrendous atrocities. Even though they had not technically been responsible for their actions while under the influence of this curse, most of these witches and wizards had unable to live with themselves after they had been freed from it and, haunted by their memories, had nearly all committed suicide. Harry and Hermione had a feeling that many hosts would feel the same way once the parasites had been extracted from them. The two friends did not advocate killing but had a feeling that hosts would not necessarily object to a clean release from their torment. However, it was impossible for them to check with Rati's host what her preference would be and so they remained silent.

"We've made a new enemy—she's going to want revenge," observed Sam. "She's a danger to Earth now."

"And we'll deal with her, like we always do," barked O'Neill, taking charge. "Fall out!"

Sighing, Harry and Hermione obeyed and followed his orders. They managed to make their way out of Rati's temple without trouble, and then paused. The temple was in a forest clearing and there were a number of trails leading away from the temple, all heading in different directions.

"Which way to the Gate?" asked Alex. They had all been captured near the Stargate and had been unconscious when they were brought to the temple, and so were not sure in which direction the Stargate lay.

"Trees. It's always trees," grumbled Jack, who did not like such terrain. It was too easy for unfriendlies to sneak up behind them in forests and woodland.

Without a word, Harry changed into his Peregrine Falcon and rose up into the air, to see if he could see the Gate from above the treeline. Dropping back down to ground-level, he transformed back into Harry. "This way," he said, pointing.

They had not gone far before they were surrounded by a Jaffa patrol. SG-1 lowered their weapons, waiting for the opportune moment to strike against the superior numbers. "Drop them," ordered O'Neill and his companions all followed suit, lowering their weapons in preparation to handing them over to their captors. Harry and Hermione, however, in one single, smooth move, shifted their guns to their left hands in the process of lowering their weapons and had their wands in their right hands without even thinking about it. Only too used to fighting when at a disadvantage, they automatically went into attack mode, a legacy from their years fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Within moments, the two magicals had downed five of the Jaffa, who were all wearing heavy armour, in which they could not move easily. Fortunately, the armour did not shield the Jaffa against magic. Harry and Hermione were standing back-to-back, rapidly firing off strings of curses and hexes, and the Jaffa warriors were helpless against them, unable to fire their own weapons quickly enough to counter Harry and Hermione. The other magicals followed suit, and the entire troop was speedily taken care of, although it was obvious that Harry and Hermione had been responsible for taking out most of them.

SG-1 was left standing, gaping in shock at what had just happened. To be honest, Harry and Hermione's teams were also taken by surprise but had adapted more quickly because they had duelled extensively with Harry and Hermione and so were better able to react appropriately.

While everyone was standing around goggling, Harry was busy casting multiple _Incarerous_ spells, which conjured thick ropes to bind all the Jaffa, while Hermione was silencing them and casting Notice-Me-Not charms on the bound warriors. That done, the pair levitated the Jaffa off the trail they were following and placed them deeper in the surrounding woods, to make it less likely they would be found quickly. Eventually, the spells would wear off, but not for a few hours. Neither of the Brits had exchanged a word with each other. They just worked together seamlessly, knowing exactly what the other was doing and why, without the need for explanations or discussion.

Shaking his head in amusement, Alex took over command, seeing that Jack O'Neill was still too bemused by Harry and Hermione's actions. "Potter, check the direction of the Gate again, and let's go."

Harry did as bid and the three teams resumed their journey back to the Stargate.

"Is it really difficult to become an Animagus?" asked Colonel Gideon Smith of SG-27 curiously, as they followed the trail.

Harry made a face. "It's certainly not the easiest magic I've ever done, but it's easier with the assistance of someone who's been through the Animagus transformation themselves," he answered his team-mate.

"Yes, we'd be willing to help any of you who want to become Animagi," Hermione snickered at the hopeful looks on the faces of their magical companions. SG-1 was looking wistful but there was simply no way the non-magicals could become Animagi.

"It would be really useful," agreed Connor. This was by no means the first time SG-23 had seen the advantage of having an Animagus on the team, but it had never occurred to them to try to become Animagi themselves, not until Gideon raised the subject.

"Just remember you can't choose your Animagus form," Harry warned. "It may or may not be useful—you could end up a flobberworm!"

Hermione snorted. "Back when we were meditating to find our Animagus forms, Harry and Ron used to tease me that I'd turn into a bookworm," she said and they all laughed.

"Understood," replied Gideon. "I'd still like to try, though."

"I'd love to be a bird," commented Arnie. "I love flying."

"I love flying too. That probably had a lot to do with my Animagus form," agreed Harry. Then he stopped dead. "Why don't we bring brooms with us on missions?" he asked.

"Well, we don't exactly have time to stop for a game of Quidditch," replied Gideon sarcastically.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Shrink a broom and carry it in your pocket. Then in circumstances like these, where it's easier to work out the direction to the Stargate from the air, you can do it easily, even if your Animagus form isn't avian. Hell, you could even just fly to the Gate."

"Oh," said Gideon sheepishly. "I didn't think of that."

"It's a good idea," agreed Alex and Hermione groaned loudly,

"Hermione _hates_ flying," chuckled Harry.

"Can you fly, even if you don't like doing it?" Alex asked Hermione.

"I haven't been on a broom in years," she replied. "You're going to order me to practise flying, aren't you?"

"Yep," Alex confirmed cheerily. "Potter's right. We should all carry brooms with us as part of our standard kit."

"On one condition. That no one expects me to use a racing model. I want something a bit more sedate than a Firebolt," said Hermione, referring to the broomsticks used by most professional Quidditch teams.

"Deal!" said Alex, acknowledging that Hermione's condition was actually very sensible, given that she was apparently a nervous flyer.

Connor, in the meantime, had been eyeing SG-1. "Yes, we'll take you up flying with us when we get home," he promised, looking at the longing expressions on their faces.

The three teams kept on walking, until they came to the edge of a cliff.

"Crap," said O'Neill, when he saw the Gate in the distance and they realised how far away it was. The terrain between them and the Stargate was truly hazardous and would take a long time to cover. "We could do with those flying broomsticks now. The snakeheads must have transport rings to take them between the temple and the Gate. Going back to look for the rings isn't a good idea, and there will probably be Jaffa waiting at the Gate for us long before we get there," he grumbled, knowing they were going to have a lot of trouble returning home.

The eight magicals looked at each other and shrugged. "Apparate?" suggested Harry.

"Yep," replied Alex nonchalantly.

Four of the magicals each grabbed a member of SG-1 and they all apparated away to the Stargate. By the time the transport rings near the Stargate activated and disgorged Jaffa warriors to guard the Gate so that the fleeing captives could not escape through it, it was too late. The three SG teams were already long gone.

.o.O.o.

³ _Blackbird_ by Paul McCartney (although it's credited to Lennon-McCartney), 1968.


	10. Chapter 10

When Neville Longbottom's wedding to Hannah Abbott came around, Harry and Hermione portkeyed to Britain for a long weekend. Knowing that they could return instantly by magical means, General Hammond had agreed to let them travel overseas for these few days, on condition that they kept their mobile phones with them at all times, in case they were needed. As Harry and Hermione had both given up their rented flats in London, they were staying together in Grimmauld Place, something that was not remarked upon by their friends until they went to the Burrow for dinner and it was noticed how much closer Harry and Hermione had become.

All the Weasleys were present, with their spouses and partners, apart from Charlie, who was at work on the dragon reserve in Romania. Molly had also invited Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minerva McGonagall and Andromeda Tonks, with her grandson, Teddy Lupin. Harry, who was feeling guilty about having moved so far away from his godson and hoped to spend as much time with Teddy as he could during their very short visit to Britain, was delighted to see 'Dromeda and Teddy.

"He's grown so much," said Harry sadly.

"That's what children do, dear," observed Molly with a warm smile.

"I know, but I didn't realise just how much I'd be missing until I saw him again."

At that moment, Hermione came over to Harry, who was holding his godson in his arms. "Hello, Teddy," she said with a smile for the little boy. "Do you remember me?"

Teddy looked at Hermione with wide eyes, but did not say anything. After a moment, the young Metamorphmagus changed his appearance to the same brown eyes and bushy brown hair as Hermione. As Harry and Hermione both smiled at the little boy who now looked so much like Hermione, the Weasleys raised their eyebrows at the sight of the threesome, who looked exactly like a mother and father doting on their son.

When they were sitting eating, Ginny leaned forward, in excited curiosity. "So, how long have you two been together?" she asked.

Harry's jaw dropped. "What?" he stuttered. "We're not together."

George started laughing. "Who are you trying to fool? You can't kid a kidder, Harrikins!"

"But we're _not_ together!" exclaimed Hermione, her bewilderment clear for all to see.

The Weasleys fell silent. "Merlin!" breathed Ginny. "You're actually serious. You're not together?"

"No, we're not," said Harry decisively. "We're best friends. You know that. Why would you think otherwise?"

"Well, if you really don't know…" teased Ron.

"We'll leave you to work it out for yourselves," chortled George with glee.

Seeing Harry and Hermione's embarrassment, Minerva intervened, although she privately agreed with everyone else that Harry and Hermione were deeply in love. _'They just haven't realised it yet,'_ she thought. Out loud, she asked, "So, Harry. If you've been living with Hermione, does that mean you know what her mysterious job is?"

Harry blushed. "Yeah. Yes, I do."

"Oh, so you can tell us," said Ron eagerly.

"Actually, I can't," Harry admitted.

"How come you get to know and we don't?" asked Ron indignantly. "I'm your best friend!"

"I know because I'm working with Hermione now and, like her, I swore an oath not to tell anyone what we do," Harry explained.

"You're working with Hermione?" asked Minerva sharply. "I thought you planned to do a Mastery in Defence and then come and teach at Hogwarts."

"I'm still doing the Mastery, just like Hermione's doing her Arithmancy Mastery at the same time as working," Harry assured his former Head of House. "But I don't know if I'll be teaching at Hogwarts any time soon. I'm happy for now with what I'm doing, and it's important."

"Working for Muggles? How important can that be?" Percy scoffed.

Hermione gritted her teeth. She had never particularly liked Percy and his ignorant dismissal of all things Muggle angered her. It was attitudes like his that made life so hard for Muggleborns in wizarding Britain and that was causing wizarding Britain to fall far behind the rest of the world. Fortunately, Kingsley spoke up before Hermione could lose her temper with Percy.

"As Minister of Magic, I've been made aware of what Hermione and Harry are doing and, while I can't tell you what it is since I'm under the same oath of secrecy as they are, I can assure you it's of the utmost importance. As important as taking down Voldemort and his Death Eaters was, perhaps even more so."

Kingsley looked around at all the shocked faces and smiled. "Muggles are capable of incredible feats, things that we magicals can't even begin to imagine, and they shouldn't be dismissed just because they're not magical," he said mildly, before turning to Arthur and engaging him in a discussion on Muggles. Arthur's obsession with all things Muggle was well-known, and even Percy was not about to dismiss his own father; he had already done that during the war and knew that if he were to do so again, the damage he would do to his relationship with his family this time would be irreparable.

Truth be told, Harry understood why Hermione had no desire to return to live in Britain, and Percy had just demonstrated perfectly what was wrong with the country of his birth—and the reason why so many Muggleborns of their generation had chosen to leave Britain or the wizarding world, or both. Although Harry was in a better position than they, being a Half-blood and the Boy-Who-Lived, he nonetheless sympathised more with the Muggleborns than he did with the prejudiced Pureblood agenda. The anti-Muggleborn legilislation may all have been repealed but attitudes had not changed. He may not want to give voice to his reservations here and now, but Harry did not want to be seen to give tacit approval of the situation by teaching at Hogwarts, where he would no doubt be expected to gloss over for his students the problems faced by Muggleborns in the wizarding world. Harry knew that the Weasleys and all their other friends currently gathered around the Weasley dinner table sympathised with the Muggleborn predicament in theory, but in practice, they did not truly understand it, as they had only witnessed the prejudices of the wizarding world and had never actually been on the receiving end themselves. Harry was therefore glad to escape to a country that was more tolerant.

Harry and Hermione had returned to London on Thursday evening, and had gone to the Burrow for dinner on Friday night. Saturday was the wedding and on Sunday, Harry went to spend the day with Andromeda and Teddy, taking Hermione along with him. After an exhausting day, Harry and Hermione were gratefully relaxing with Andromeda once Teddy had finally gone to sleep.

"Teddy's just a bundle of energy, isn't he?" asked Harry with a laugh.

"Yes, he is," Andromeda agreed. "Although he was particularly excited today because you and Hermione were here."

"Andromeda," said Hermione with a frown. "Please don't take offence, but are you managing all right on your own with Teddy? I'm sure Molly and Fleur Weasley are happy to look after him any time for you, but I know Harry used to spend a lot of time with Teddy, so with him in the States, you must have less time for yourself now."

"Thank Merlin for the Weasleys," Andromeda agreed. "Molly and Fleur really have been an enormous help, especially now that I'm working again, even though it's only part-time. Even Kreacher has also been helping me. Harry, please don't feel guilty," she added when she saw the look in those expressive, green eyes. "You were very depressed before. I was worried about you, and in all honesty, you weren't much use to Teddy when you were empty like that. I know you made a point of spending time with him, but you were just going through the motions, because you couldn't be happy even around Teddy. I haven't seen you as alive as you were today for a long time and I'm very pleased to see it. Just don't forget to stay in touch and to visit Teddy whenever you can and that'll be enough."

"You know, you and Teddy can also visit us, 'Dromeda," Hermione suggested gently.

Andromeda smiled. "That would be nice, dear. It would be nice to get away for a while," she agreed, looking around the room sadly.

Hermione said nothing, but her brain was racing. When she and Harry returned to Grimmauld Place that evening, Hermione dragged Harry into the kitchen for a cup of tea. "We need to talk," she said firmly.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked when they were sitting comfortably at the table.

"Not exactly," said Hermione hesitantly, before taking the plunge. "Harry, what do you think about inviting Andromeda and Teddy to come and live with us?" The words all came out in a rush.

"What?" asked Harry, not sure he had understood properly.

"Harry, 'Dromeda is still living in the house in which she lived with her husband, in which they raised their daughter. It's full of memories and I think it just emphasises her losses. We shouldn't say anything to her now, but let's encourage 'Dromeda to come and visit us as soon as possible. We can decide if it's a good idea to invite her to move to Colorado Springs while she's there."

Harry nodded slowly. No matter how often people told him he was not abandoning Teddy, he still felt guilty for having moved so far away from his godson. Having grown up as an orphan himself, Harry knew how important his own godfather had been to him, even though he had only known Sirius for two years. Harry's living situation as a child had not been good, having been sent to live with relatives who feared and hated magic, and consequently, Harry himself. Andromeda adored her grandson, who was all the family she had left, but despite that, Harry was determined to be there for Teddy in a way that Sirius had been unable to be for Harry. This was the reason why Harry still thought in the back of his mind that perhaps he ought to return to teach at Hogwarts after he completed his Mastery, instead of staying at the SGC, which was his preferred option.

"Where would they stay? We don't have much room."

Hermione considered that for a moment. "When they come to visit, I'll sleep on the sofabed in my office and give 'Dromeda my room. Teddy can sleep in your room with you." Teddy was now six years old, and Hermione was sure Andromeda would rather not have him in her room with her if there was an alternative.

"And if 'Dromeda decides to move to Colorado Springs?" asked Harry pointedly. This was not a long-term solution, after all.

"If 'Dromeda decides to move to Colorado Springs permanently, she'll either get her own place for herself and Teddy, or else we can easily move to somewhere large enough to accommodate us all. It's only a rented house, after all. We just give notice to the landlord and move on."

Once back in Colorado Springs, Harry and Hermione sent a portkey to Andromeda, urging her and Teddy to come and visit. Andromeda had been unable to send Teddy to Muggle primary school, because he still could not control his Metamorphmagus abilities perfectly. As there were no magical primary schools in Britain, most magicals home-schooled their children prior to sending them off to Hogwarts, some because they had grown up in the Wizarding world and were scared of the unfamiliar Muggle world, but mostly because it was simply too difficult to contain accidental magic in children. Therefore, Andromeda and Molly were taking care of Teddy's pre-Hogwarts education; they had both done so for their own children and Molly was now doing the same for her grandchildren, so the addition of Teddy to the group of children she cared for while their parents were at work made no practical difference to the motherly woman.

It was not long before Andromeda and Teddy came to visit Harry and Hermione. Because the United States was so large, there was a main Ministry for Magic in Washington DC and subsidiary offices in most State capitals. Hermione had arranged a portkey for Andromeda and Teddy through the branch office in Denver, and she and Harry were both waiting there for their guests' arrival.

"Uncle Harry!" cried Teddy, racing over as soon as he saw his godfather. Harry caught the little boy up in his arms and swung him around, as Teddy screamed in laughter.

"It's good to see you, 'Dromeda," said Hermione, seeing that Harry was too caught up with Teddy to acknowledge Andromeda.

Neither Harry nor Hermione had been able to take time off work for the week-long visit, but they had managed to avoid having any missions scheduled during that period, so they were only working office hours. Andromeda met SG-23 and SG-27 and their families, plus Healer Anthea Jason, and everyone fell in love with Teddy.

In fact, Andromeda had a very interesting conversation with Anthea after discovering that the younger woman was not only a Muggle doctor but also a magical Healer. Andromeda herself was also a Healer, but as her interest was in medical research, she had undertaken a Potions Mastery as well.

Before Janet Fraiser's death, Janet had discussed with Anthea the possibility of adapting some of the magical potions for the use of non-magicals. In Britain, this would be completely forbidden, however, in the States there was more flexibility in the application of the Statute of Secrecy. Manufacturing potions for the muggle commercial market would not be acceptable, but with special dispensation from the Minister for Magic, producing them for the specialised use of the Armed Forces might well be permitted—especially in the case of the SGC, whose personnel often picked up off-world infections and diseases that did not always respond particularly well to standard Muggle medications. If the magical equivalents could help, then this would be a boon to the SGC.

Of course, Anthea was not able to explain all of this to Andromeda, but she did take the opportunity to pick the older woman's brains in general terms regarding adapting magical potions for Muggle use. Andromeda found herself fascinated with this conversation and began asking Anthea about working as a Healer in the States. Andromeda, who was often frustrated by the small-mindedness and lack of vision of the British wizarding establishment, and the narrow parameters and restrictions under which she was forced to work—not for safety, moral or ethical reasons but due to lingering blood prejudice—began to consider whether she might be better off working outside the UK.

"I don't think I'd be able to work for Muggles, like you do, though," said Andromeda to Anthea, shaking her head. "I was born into a highly prejudiced Pureblood family and even though I rebelled enough to marry a Muggleborn wizard, we still lived and worked in the wizarding world. We had no choice really, since our daughter was a Metamorphmagus and began to show signs of that ability right from the very day she was born. I don't think I'd be able to blend into the Muggle world well enough. I don't have the knowledge or experience for that."

Anthea nodded in understanding. "There's a large magical hospital in Denver. It's only about sixty miles away as the crow flies, or about seventy miles by car. That's a short apparition jump, or you could easily hook up to the floo network. You could live here in Colorado Springs, near your family, or if you prefer to live in Denver, it still shouldn't be a problem to see Harry and Hermione frequently. The hospital has some good Potioneers who are capable of brewing highly complex potions, but they don't have anyone who's capable of adapting the potions when need be, or of creating new ones. We do have some very good Potions Masters here in the US but none in this part of the country, so I'm sure the Colorado Magical Infirmary would be delighted to be able to employ a Healer and Potioneer of your calibre."

This gave Andromeda food for thought and she discussed it with Harry and Hermione that evening after Teddy was asleep.

"What would your feelings be if I decided to move to Colorado?" Andromeda asked cautiously.

"We'd love it," replied Harry promptly.

"We were actually going to ask if you might be willing to consider it," Hermione clarified.

Andromeda nodded. "I think so. It would be best for Teddy to be near Harry…"

"Is Teddy your only reason? You need to do what's best for you, too," Hermione interrupted. "You need to be sure it's what you want for yourself, or you might come to resent having made the move, and that wouldn't be good for either you or Teddy," she added more gently.

"No, it's not the only reason," said Andromeda decisively. "Healer Jason was telling me about the magical hospital in Denver; she says they could really use someone with my skills and she promised to put me in touch with the right people there. From what she was saying, I'd have much more freedom with my research there than I do in Britain, which is very tempting. Plus…" Andromeda looked sad, "I'm haunted by memories back home. I'm beginning to understand why you two have found a new start so appealing, and I'm finding the idea of starting over somewhere else very attractive. I may not ever have considered it if you weren't here, but you are, and it's not like I have any family left in Britain, after all."

That was true. Although Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks were sisters, Andromeda had been disowned when she married Ted Tonks and the two sisters had neither seen each other nor spoken since. Not even the end of the war and the Malfoys' realisation that times were changing had brought the sisters together again. Although the Weasleys had welcomed Andromeda into their midst, it was as a family friend, rather than as family. To Andromeda, her only remaining family was Teddy and his godfather, Harry.

"If you're sure it's what you really want…" said Harry hesitantly, not wanting to influence Andromeda by how happy this made him.

"Then we'd love to have you here," finished Hermione. "There's a good magical school—with both a primary and a secondary division—in Denver. The school has a good reputation and flooing back and forth every day isn't a problem. I believe they have a central, secure, floo point for all their students. The school takes children from all over the State, and beyond, so you'd have no problem with enrolling Teddy. The junior school is a day school but the high school has the option of daily attendance or boarding. Regardless of whether you end up living in Denver or Colorado Springs, though, Harry and I will be near enough to see you and Teddy regularly." Hermione had checked out the magical schooling options before Andromeda arrived, knowing that it would be an important factor when they tried to persuade her to move to the States. Fortunately, it did not look like much persuasion would be necessary.

"Unless you want to live with us?" asked Harry hopefully. "We could easily move somewhere larger."

"No, I'd rather have my own home. I'm used to my own independence," replied Andromeda with a smile. Besides, like the rest of their friends, she could see that Harry and Hermione had feelings for each other and did not want to get in the way of a burgeoning relationship. "But I wouldn't mind living nearby," she added, and Harry, who had been looking disappointed, immediately brightened.

"That's probably a good idea," said Hermione, chewing her lip thoughtfully. "As part of our jobs, Harry and I frequently have to travel. It's rarely more than a few days at a time, but we do go away quite often. If you were in Colorado Springs, you'd have the support of the other magical, military families, who also have to put up with people disappearing frequently on missions. You'd be more alone in Denver."

The very next day, Andromeda got in touch with Healer Jason, and Anthea immediately arranged for Andromeda to meet her contacts at the Colorado Magical Infirmary, from which meeting Andromeda walked away with a firm job offer. The world of potioneering was not large and Andromeda's reputation was well known. Andromeda immediately began house-hunting, with Harry and Hermione's assistance, quickly finding a home comfortably near Harry and Hermione, but still far enough away that they would not be living in each other's pockets. The house she found was in a very nice neighbourhood, and was very reasonably priced because the neighbourhood did not have a top school, which did not bother her as Andromeda promptly enrolled Teddy in the junior section of the Colorado Academy for Arcane Studies.

When Andromeda returned to the UK after her holiday in Colorado Springs, it was to hand in her notice at St Mungo's and pack up her home. St Mungo's was shocked that Andromeda would leave after so many years, and Andromeda was quite forthright in explaining her frustrations.

"My research has been continually hampered by people who wish to ration healing only to those who they deem worthy. In America, I'll have no such restrictions," Andromeda declared acerbically, and this silenced the Head Healer, who had to agree with Andromeda's frustrations. Healers had to swear a magical version of the Hippocratic Oath, one which was based on the Declaration of Geneva⁴, and which required Healers to treat all who required healing without prejudice. Healers were at risk of losing their magic if they violated that oath, so those at St Mungo's who did have lingering prejudices were not the Healers but rather the administrators and the bean counters, both of which categories, unfortunately, had far more power than the Head Healer would have liked.

With that, Andromeda received the Head Healer's blessing to move on and within a month, she and Teddy were happily settled in Colorado Springs. Kreacher had finally joined them also, having been spurred on to make the move by his desire to help Andromeda with the 'Young Master.' Apenimon Wolfe, the American Minister for Magic, had been of great assistance and had issued green cards for them, after receiving a request from Kingsley and Hermione. Harry was now ecstatically happy, as it meant that he was able to see Teddy almost every day. Between the three adults, it was very easy for one of them to floo Teddy to and from school every day, as he was still a bit too young to floo by himself.

By the time Andromeda and Teddy had been in Colorado Springs for a year, Harry and Hermione no longer had to worry about where Teddy would sleep when the little boy stayed over with them. To no one's surprise, Harry and Hermione had become a couple and when Harry moved into Hermione's room, the pair of them had taken great delight in decorating Harry's old room for Teddy. The walls had been painted in a bright, sky blue colour, and there was a green carpet on the floor. One wall was covered in decals—neither Harry nor Hermione was particularly artistic, so it was easier to use wall stickers than to try and paint a scene themselves—consisting of a number of animals in amongst some trees and grass. Not surprisingly, prominently displayed amongst the myriad of animals were a wolf, stag and black dog, representing Remus Lupin, James Potter and Sirius Black respectively. There was also a cat to represent Hermione and a falcon to represent Harry. The fact that Harry's Animagus was the speedy Peregrine Falcon was of no surprise to anyone who had ever seen him play Quidditch.

Two years later, Colorado Springs was invaded by magicals from Britain for Harry and Hermione's wedding. The engaged couple had flatly refused to get married in Britain, not wanting to have to deal with the British magical press, in particular one Rita Skeeter, who had a vendetta against Hermione, and a nasty habit of writing fictional articles which she then presented as fact. By this time, the existence of magic was more widely known in the SGC, especially as Hermione had managed to create a spell that would enforce secrecy on the non-magicals, much like a magical oath. If anyone refused to have the spell applied to them, they would be Obliviated, but so far no one had refused the application of the secrecy spell. With that, Harry and Hermione were able to invite both magicals and military to their wedding without having to worry about their friends sending up warning flags by showing their lack of familiarity with the Muggle world.

Harry had attained his Defence Mastery before their wedding, his Auror training having given him a head start on his studies, but Hermione, who had a heavier day-to-day workload than Harry, had not yet completed her own studies. By the time their first child was born a further two years later, however, Hermione had finally attained her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mathematics and her Arithmancy Mastery, although she was still shy of being awarded her Doctorate in Mathematics.

Knowing how worried Harry was that their children might grow up orphans like himself and Teddy, with the birth of James Sirius, to her husband's great relief, Hermione decided to withdraw from SG-23 and work full-time in the labs.

By this time there were no longer any serious threats against Earth. The Goa'uld and the Replicators had both been defeated. (Magic had indeed been found to fry the Replicators' circuits but this had proved to be of limited use in the war against them, since the Replicators had been spread out throughout the galaxy and magic could only be used in individual encounters, rather than as a widespread weapon; however, the Replicators had eventually been defeated by means of an Ancient superweapon.) Even the new enemy which the SGC had encountered after the defeat of the Goa'uld and the Replicators, a race known as the Ori, had also been defeated.

However, this did not mean that every step through the Stargate into the unknown was without danger, and so Hermione withdrew from the field teams for the sake of her children. This proved of great advantage to the SGC as a whole, as Hermione began to become more involved in mission planning at a strategic level; her Arithmantic predictions were not infallible as there were too many unknown variables, but applying Arithmantic principles to the planning helped cut down immensely on the danger the off-world teams experienced nevertheless.

Teddy, with his Metamorphmagus abilities, understandably showed a decided talent for Transfiguration, completing a Mastery and becoming a much-loved teacher at Colorado Academy for Arcane Studies, where he was joined on staff by his wife, Victoire Weasley, who was a Charms Mistress. While the British wizarding world was no longer the dark place of Harry and Hermione's childhood, the young part-Veela had still experienced prejudice in Britain and had therefore chosen to join her old childhood friend, Teddy, at the Colorado Academy for her Mastery studies.

James Sirius, the most flamboyant of Harry and Hermione's children, became a professional Quidditch player and then a professional coach after retiring from play, rising to manager of the American national team; their second child, Lily Luna, who had much of the insight of her namesake, Luna Lovegood, became a wandmaker; Hugo Brian, named for Hermione's father and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, became an Auror; their youngest child, Rose Tobi, named for Hermione's mother and Severus Tobias Snape, became a Potions Mistress like her namesake.

None of the children showed any desire to move to Britain, and all found spouses in the States. Like his grandfather and namesake, James fell in love with a classmate at a very young age but, unlike his grandparents' story, his regard was returned from the start, much to the disappointment of his Quidditch fans when they realised James was devoted to his wife, who was employed by his Quidditch team as a Mediwitch. Lily married the youngest son of Alexander Paxton, who joined the Air Force and later the SGC like his father. Albus married a Wards Mistress who frequently worked with the Auror Corps. Rose married Louis Weasley, Victoire's younger brother, who she met when he came to visit his sister and her family; at his Uncle George's request, when he came to visit Victoire, Louis had taken the opportunity to assess the potential of opening a new branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, near the magical school in Denver, and after meeting Rose, had remained in Denver as the manager of the new shop. Although all four Potter children were brought up to be as comfortable in the Muggle world as the magical, they all pursued careers in the wizarding world. As they watched their family flourish, Harry and Hermione never regretted making their fresh, new start in Colorado Springs.

.o.O.o.

⁴ en dot wikipedia dot org / wiki / Declaration_of_Geneva

.o.O.o.

A/N: I'm sorry that this is an abrupt ending—I know some readers would have liked to have seen more of Harry and Hermione at the SGC—but thanks to some truly vivious reviews from people who didn't have the guts to log in, I've decided to end the story here. Perhaps the anonymous reviewers who like to flame without contributing anything positive ought to consider that if they keep doing that, people will stop posting stories altogether, and that would be a very great shame.


End file.
